Class 1-B's Dekiru
by Riftinthevoid
Summary: Because of a small mistake in the acceptance process, Izuku is placed in Class 1-B instead of 1-A. How will Class 1-B influence Izuku's growth? And how will Izuku affect Class 1-B? Rated M for profanity and violence.
1. Class 1-B

The screens in the observation center showed the cleaning robots and janitors roaming Battle Center B, trying to sweep up the carnage caused by the fallen Zero-Pointer. Piles of buildings, rubble, and debris littered the streets, virtually making the area unusable for future students for the time being.

Nezu, or better known as Mr. Principal of the highly established U.A. school for heroics, was currently swamped with stacks of paperwork and forms. His tiny little paws moved across the sheet rapidly before moving on to the next. His eyes had heavy bags under them from overwork. Despite his Quirk, High-Spec, being extremely useful to him for situations like these, he was clearly out of his depth this time.

"You alright, Nezu?" A female voice called out to him. He turned around to see Kayama Nemuri, or better known by her hero name Midnight, walking towards him. She looked around and winced at the stacks of paperwork surrounding him. "Geez...you're usually done with all of these by now! What's holding you up this year?"

"Ah, Kayama-san." Nezu held up a paw in greeting, his eyes drooping even further, if that was even possible. He tried to maintain his usual playful grin to reassure her but found he couldn't muster the energy to do even that. "As you should know, All Might suddenly decided to join our faculty. But he made the decision so suddenly that-"

"-someone had to fill out the paperwork to fit him in," Midnight filled in for him. "I bet he hauled his skeletal ass out as soon as he realized."

"He always was quick on the uptake and now I'm here to pick up the pieces," Nezu said with a tired smile, shaking his head. He wasn't surprised at Midnight's casual mention of All Might's true form. Nezu had successfully convinced All Might that revealing his true form to the other staff at U.A. would make it easier for him to cover his secret while he was teaching. All of the teachers were shocked at first, but vowed to support him as they thought that the experience and wisdom he had culminated as the Number One would be beneficial to the students.

_Experience and wisdom, huh? _Nezu snorted inwardly. _Wait till they find out he can't teach anything beyond basic addition._

"Well, at least let me help you out a little," Midnight offered. She didn't mind either. She owed Nezu a lot for letting her teach at U.A. despite her motto being a "18+ Hero".

"All the other staff left for the day," Nezu responded, lifting up his mug and taking a sip. Midnight winced when she saw it. That coffee had to be blacker than Aizawa's cold and logical soul. "I still need to send the student roster to Kan-san and Aizawa-san so they can make the acceptance letters…"

"Then let me handle that!" Midnight responded adamantly. She looked at the two folders, both labeled 1-A and 1-B respectively and took them along with half of the paperwork. "I'll finish these off as well."

"Aizawa-san and Kan-san both left too," Nezu reminded her. Midnight just grinned sadistically and flicked the whip from her side.

"Then I'll make sure they listen to me~" She winked and Nezu shivered. Even though he wasn't attracted to her due to his animal physiology, he was already aware of her famous reputation as a sadist. He could only hope that the two would listen to her.

"Thank you," Nezu said sincerely and turned back to work. Suddenly, a pink mist surrounded his vision. Before he could do anything, he was already lying on his desk, snoring softly.

"He trusts people way too easily, despite his intelligence," Midnight said, giggling, as she pulled her hand away from the torn part of her costume. She didn't feel right, making him do all the work when he was ready to collapse. She looked over at the forms, and some of them weren't even due until the end of the month! "He seriously chooses to be overworked instead of being truly overworked…"

She picked up the two folders and the stack. The papers towered over her. She walked slowly to balance them, leaving Nezu to his beauty sleep. She made it over to her office when the stack of papers suddenly wobbled. In a panic, she tried to balance herself to no avail. Like a giant waterfall of disappointment and extra work, they fell gloriously, scattering all throughout the hall and covering the ground in a snow of signatures and overlooked terms-and-conditions.

"Seriously…" Midnight sighed to herself before picking the papers up. The class roster folders also fell, both open with student information sheets scattered around, but still clustered in the folder. She sorted them back up before one caught her eye. The student profile picture detailed a curly green/black-haired boy smiling awkwardly at a camera with tons of sweat dripping down his forehead. She suddenly remembered him as the kid who took down the Zero-Pointer with only one punch but got severely injured as a result. "That kid's got some crazy guts…"

With no other thoughts and a shrug, she sorted his file into one of the folders. She picked up another file, a kid named Fukidashi Manga she absentmindedly took note of, and placed it in the other folder. She started again for her office.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

_I-I can't believe I'm finally here!_

Midoriya Izuku stood at the front entrance of the place that literally held his hopes and dreams. It had been a few days since he received his holographic acceptance letter detailing his prowess at the entrance exam. He was so sure that he would fail because of his inability to gain even a single villain point. He was surprised at when the nice brown-haired girl showed up and stood up for him, going as far as to even offer him some of her rightfully earned points! That alone already had him bawling on the floor, which only continued when she said that he saved her. To add to it, All Might had him waiting in anticipation with his speech on heroism before revealing the existence of rescue points and how it tied into his acceptance status.

Izuku had played every game, watched every movie, knew about almost every superheros' debut, and analyzed every Quirk he saw. Anything to make him believe, to make him feel like a hero. Despite his Quirklessness, he never ever gave up. He never gave in to the peer pressure, the bullying, the society telling him he _couldn't be a hero. _

And now he was here.

Izuku took a deep breath to calm his furiously beating heart. He looked up at the tall building in front of him. The words 'U.A.' were emblazoned across its front, glinting sharply in the sunlight. He clutched his acceptance letter and student ID card in his hand. He felt like he was defiling the pure and pristine nature of U.A. by attending here with his former Quirkless status and absolute luck in the exam. He shook his head to get rid of the self-deprecating thoughts.

_No, I spent ten months training for this!_

He flexed his tone muscles, the well-rewarded product from the ten months of hell.

_And I was given those rescue points at the exam for a reason! _

He slapped his face twice with both hands and lifted his foot off the ground.

_Now is the time to take this step towards my dream!_

"Oh! You're that guy from the entrance exam!" A female voice suddenly called out to him. Izuku froze, foot still high in the air, his face slowly turning tomato red. He pivoted around robotically to face a girl with orange hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing the standard female U.A. uniform. "Looks like you made it in after all!"

"G-g-g-g-gah-!?" Izuku stuttered, his body completely rigid. His hands were sweaty and trembling. _I'm talking to another girl!_

"Are you having trouble going through the gates?" she asked, looking at the metal door at the entrance. She looked down at his letter and her expression brightened. "Oh, you're in the same class as me! 1-B!"

_You can face down a huge killer robot but can't talk to a girl?! Speak up! _Izuku forced his emerald eyes up to her pretty teal ones. "Y-Y-Yeah!" _Was that all you could say?!_

"Here, let me help you out." She grabbed his student ID card and waved it to the scanner. The metal door immediately unlatched itself and opened up. She smiled at him. "Come on, let's walk to class together."

"M-mh!" Izuku nodded and walked alongside her, inwardly pleased that the scanner recognized him as a student. He calmed himself down and walked forward alongside his new companion. He looked up in awe once he entered the hallways. He knew he had a few days already to process his acceptance but he still couldn't believe he would be studying at All Might's alma mater.

"It really is amazing, huh?" the orange-haired girl started the conversation again, seemingly knowing what he was thinking about. She looked at the hallway around her as well. "We've all heard stories about this place. To actually be here is something else."

"Yeah…" Izuku agreed. He slumped his shoulders down. "I feel way out of my depth here…"

"What are you talking about?" The girl looked genuinely confused. "Back at the entrance exam, that girl was trapped under the debris and I saw you push against the crowd just to save her when no one else would." She nodded her head, already on a roll. "You completely blew away that Zero-Pointer with just one punch too! Even if you injured yourself badly in the process. If it means anything to you, I think you're already a hero!"

Izuku stopped walking and the girl looked back at him in confusion. Tears were already gathering up in the corner of his eyes. He recollected back to the moment when All Might reignited his dreams on the street corner that day. The girl from the entrance exam said that he had saved her and now he was hearing it again as another reaffirmation. _She's the third person who told me that I can be a hero!_

"A-are you alright!?" the girl said, rushing toward him when she saw his tears. Izuku immediately wiped his eyes, embarrassed that she had caught him almost crying again. "I didn't say anything to upset you, did I?"

"I-I'm fine. It's nothing!" He looked back at her and smiled before realizing he never gave her his name. "I-I'm M-Midoriya I-Izuku by the way."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! How rude of me! I'm Kendo Itsuka," the now revealed Kendo said. She held out her fist to him. "Let's get along, yeah?"

Izuku looked at her fist and shakily raised up his own to bump it. He jumped when her fist suddenly expanded in size when he made contact.

"Gotcha!" Kendo grinned at him, though Izuku's mind was already running a mile a minute in regards to the obvious display of her Quirk. "Oh! It looks like we're here!"

They stopped at a sign that was labeled Class 1-B. Izuku marveled at the very tall and wide door. He theorized it was for people who's Quirks came with some mutations that altered their size, which would make it awkward for them to go through normal doors. _U.A. really does think of everything…_

Izuku gulped as Kendo opened the door and he followed her in. _I hope Kacchan and the scary glasses guy isn't here!_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"I implore you to please raise your feet from your desk! Our upperclassman have used it and to defile it in such a way is like rubbing dirt on their legacy!"

"Shut it, you extra!" Bakugo Katsuki barked at the uptight glasses-wearing classmate in front of him. He leaned down on his seat, pushing his feet further onto the desk to mock him. "Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do!? What junior high did you come from!?"

"I am Iida Tenya from Somei Academy!" the Elite, as Katsuki immediately named in his mind, responded automatically. "And I ask you again to remove your feet!"

"A damn elite, huh?" Katsuki said, still ignoring him. He grinned savagely. "I'll have fun crushing you into blood paste!"

"Crushing me into blood paste?" Elite repeated, taking a step back. "Do you truly aim to be a hero?"

"U-um, hi…" They were interrupted by a shy voice near the doorway. A short, brown-haired girl stood on her toes, trying to scan the classroom. She pouted. "Aww, Curly Hair-kun isn't here…"

"Are you referring to the green-haired boy from the exam?" Elite asked her, walking over to her. They began talking with each other, but Katsuki didn't care about what they said. His mind was already set ablaze.

A green, curly-haired bastard? There was only one shitrag that fit that description.

_Deku…_

Katsuki's hands started smoking, just shy of fully igniting. He had looked at the entrance exam scoreboards and, while he was pleased that he was first like he expected, he had become angry when he saw the Quirkless runt just five places after him with the so-called "rescue points".

"_K-Kacchan…" Katsuki felt his arm being gripped. "Someone told me...that I can become a hero! That it was because of my own effort! I'm going to U.A..." Deku looked up at him, and even Katsuki was surprised at the fierce defiance that blazed in his emerald eyes "… whether you like it or not!"_

_Tch! _Katsuki inwardly scoffed when he remembered the day he pinned Deku behind their middle school. _My own effort, my ass! You cheated, Deku! The next time I see you, I'll beat the answers out of you!_

His thoughts were interrupted when the girl yelped. A yellow blob rose up from the ground and unzipped itself, revealing to be a very tired looking man.

"You all took eight seconds to calm down," the man said with half-opened eyes. "That isn't rational. My name is Aizawa Shota, your homeroom teacher." He peered around the classroom like the girl next to the Elite. "Good, it looks like you're all here."

Katsuki frowned and finally looked around at the extras around him for the first time, doing a mental headcount. He saw a black, ponytailed girl. A boy with red and white hair. A...floating set of clothes? And was that a fucking speech bubble floating out of another uniform?

Katsuki shook his head and counted the Elite and the girl by the entrance as well. 20 students. That meant Deku wasn't in his class. He wasn't sure if he was pleased from not having to deal with him or angry that he wouldn't get his chance to pound his face in for attending the school in the first place.

_Why am I still thinking about that damn nerd?! He's irrelevant now! Just like the rest of these losers!_

"We've already lost a lot of time," Aizawa drawled. He ruffled through his yellow sleeping bag and pulled out a bunch of blue gym uniforms. "Quickly put these on. We're doing a Quirk assessment now."

Katsuki grinned again. This would be the perfect exercise to show these stepping stones just who the real Number One is around here.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Izuku winced as most of the eyes were on him and Kendo as soon as he walked into the classroom. He looked around to see a myriad of faces, but he didn't see Kacchan or the scary glasses guy from the exam anywhere, prompting a sigh of relief. Though he was sad that he didn't see the nice girl. He wanted to thank her for offering her points to him.

His relief ended when he heard two hands slamming on a desk. A gray-haired classmate was growling at another light brown-haired one.

"HAAH!? Are you challenging me!? I can kick your ass any time I want!"

"Oh, really?" The brown-haired boy was undaunted. "I'd like to see you try!"

"What's this about fighting now!?" Another voice shouted from behind Izuku and Kendo. They both jumped and turned around to see a tall man wearing a red skin-tight suit that exposed his chest. A wire came from his white gloves to the pack he wore on his back. He had a menacing expression on his face, only amplified by the upturned sharp teeth at the edges of his mouth. His eyes looked over at them angrily behind the yellow visor. With all of these details, Izuku knew who exactly this person was. "You're in the Hero Course now! There's shouldn't be any petty fighting!"

_It's the Blood Hero: Vlad King! He used to be a part of the military before he became a hero! _Izuku tried to keep his fanboying down to a minimum lest he wanted to weird out his classmates on the first day. His amazement soon turned to fear when he was on the receiving end of his gaze.

"Get to your seats, you two!" He barked. Izuku yelped and went to the nearest open seat he could find. Kendo sat right next to him, only looking slightly shook from the intense hero.

Vlad King went to the podium in front of the class and cleared his throat. "Alright, you maggots! Welcome to the hero course. I will-!?"

Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by a loud "DIIIIEEEEEEE!" with the sound of an explosion following afterward.

"What the hell was that?!"

"That sounded like a villain..."

"Don't be silly! This is U.A! No villain can penetrate this fortress!"

In the midst of class' speculations, a shadow of fear fell over Izuku. He recognized that voice from anywhere. _T-That was K-Kacchan! I knew he would be attending U.A. since he got first on the exam, but to hear him so soon-?!"_

"You okay, Midoriya-san?" Kendo asked, looking at his pale squalor. He gave a stiff nod, making Kendo giggle. "You scare easily, don't you?"

Before his face can turn into a cherry for the third time, he was saved by Vlad King. "Shut it, you maggots!"

The whole class immediately quieted down. Vlad King sighed and pinched his nose. "That must've been Aizawa's class now. Damn, he works fast…"

He looked back up at them again. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, this is the Hero Course! I am the Blood Hero: Vlad King! But you may address me as Vlad-sensei! I will be your homeroom teacher! Do you understand?!"

He got a half-hearted fanfare back. "I said. Do. You. Understand?!"

"Yes, Vlad-Sensei!"

"Better." He nodded to the room. "Now then, the people that you see around you will be your classmates for the next three years! You better get along with each other! No petty grudges or squabbles will be tolerated here! Do you understand!?"

"Yes, Vlad-Sensei!"

"Got it in one this time," He chuckled to himself. "Now then, it's best if we all introduce yourself for a start. We'll go from oldest to youngest, so I'll point at you when it's your turn. State your full name, what your Quirk does, alongside one fact about yourself. It can be about anything. I'll start first."

Vlad King took a deep breath. "My hero name is Vlad King, but my real name is Kan Sekijiro! My Quirk is Blood Control, which allows me to manipulate my own blood and use it any way I see fit. My hero costume also allows me to reabsorb my blood so I don't lose any when I use it."

The class stared in awe at the powerful description of their teacher's Quirks. Izuku had already pulled out his burnt notebook and was furiously scribbling in it, already drawing a simplified design of the teacher's body frame and mapping out potential uses of the Quirk. He started muttering his thoughts out loud, but the other students didn't notice.

Vlad King put his hand on his chin for a moment. "...I also own a dog. Next!"

A foreign-looking girl made her way to the classroom. She had lyrical horns on top of her head and hooves for feet. She gave the class a shy smile. "H-Hi. My name Tsunotori Pony! Birthday April 1st!" She spoke with an obvious accent. She pointed to the horns on her head. "My Quirk is Horn Cannon! Horns launch from my head!" Her smile turned more bashful. "My Japanese n-not that good since from America. Please help me learn better!" She ended her introduction with a bow and returned to her seat.

_She can launch horns from her head? Can she control how far and the launch trajectory? Can she launch more than two horns? _Izuku muttered some more, catching Kendo's attention.

A blonde-haired boy came next. He gave the class a cocky smirk. "The name's Monoma Neito. My Quirk is Copy, which allows me to use other people's Quirks through physical contact. I also like French food."

_Can he copy multiple Quirks at once? Can he dual wield and combine them?_

His muttering was starting to catch the attention of the other students.

The brown-haired boy from earlier walked to the podium. "Hey, all! My name's Tsuburaba Kosei! My Quirk, Solid Air, can allow me to solidify the air that comes from my lungs! I like old school superhero movies and games." His smile turned mischievous. "I also happen to be better at Street Fighter than Tetsutetsu."

"You wanna go, bitch?" The gray-haired boy, Tetsutetsu, stood up. "I'll shove a Shoryuken so far up your ass it'll come out through your mouth!"

_That's what they were arguing about earlier? _Izuku wondered with a sweatdrop as the two students started yelling at each other again. He then proceeded to mutter about Tsuburaba's Quirk.

"Enough!" Vlad King apparently had enough of the argument. "Just go back to your seat! Next!"

Tsuburaba stuck his tongue out to Tetsutetsu as a black-haired boy passed him. "My name is Kaibara Sen. My Quirk, Gyrate, allows me to vibrate any part of my body like a drill." To demonstrate, he lifted his finger and it started to violently swirl in place, prompting the class to stare in awe while Izuku had another Quirk orgasm. "I also like film theory and photography."

He returned to his seat. A pale boy with teeth growing from his outer skin replaced him. "My name is Honenuki Juzo. My Quirk, Softening, allows me to soften any non-living surface." He smiled gently at Tsunotori, surprising her. "_I am also bilingual in both Japanese and English. _Nice to meet you all."

"What did he just say?"

"That he can speak both English and Japanese in English. The transition between words was was so seamless and smooth..."

"So, he's one of the smart ones, huh…"

_He's one of the recommended students? He must be good… _Izuku looked over and saw Tsunotori giving Honenuki a grateful smile. _I wonder what else his Quirk can do..._

A chinese-looking boy with hair that was tied into a braid took the podium. "My name is Rin Hiryu. My Quirk, Scales, allows me to grow scales alongside my body for defense and launch them as projectiles for offense. Though I moved here from China in elementary school, there is still a lot I would like to learn about Japanese culture."

_He can grow scales from his body and launch them?! That's like the perfect all-purpose Quirk! How many can he send out? Can he control their launch speed? _Izuku was so concentrated in writing down his mutterings that he failed to notice that he was the center of attention in the room now.

"Psst! Izuku!" Kendo tried to help him to no avail.

_Everyone's Quirk is so amazing! I can only hope that I can match them…_

"MIDORIYA!"

"GAH!" Izuku was so surprised by the shout that he jumped in place. His seat tipped backward, sending him sprawling all over the floor. "Oww…"

Izuku's ears burned in embarrassment as he heard the class laugh at him. He saw Kendo's hand and turned even more red at the prospect of holding a girl's hand, but took it anyway.

"Are you-" *snrk* "-okay?" Kendo asked, trying but failing to contain her laughter. Izuku wanted to die right at that moment.

"If you're done with the theatrics, can you get your introduction done?" Vlad King looked more annoyed at the whole spectacle. Izuku ducked his head and nodded. He made his way to the podium.

"H-Hello e-everyone! M-My name is M-Midoriya I-Izuku!" Izuku winced at how his voice cracked. Really puberty? Now of all times? "My Quirk i-is S-Super P-Power!" He couldn't just say One For All to them after all. He and All Might decided to give the secret Quirk a fake name to register under, no matter how generic it was. "I-It gives me super strength! I-I also r-really like s-studying Q-Quirks!"

"Is that what he was muttering and writing about earlier?"

"He was muttering so fast that I first thought a fly was buzzing around our room…"

"He seems like a total pushover."

Izuku went back to his seat, red-faced and exhausted. He plopped down on his seat and slammed his head on his desk, ignoring the chuckles from the others. _It's just like middle school all over again…_

A girl with what appeared to be jungle vines on her head walked to the podium. Izuku cracked one eye opened and readied his pencil. Just because he was embarrassed didn't mean that he would stop studying other people's Quirks. "I am Shiozaki Ibara. My Quirk is Vines, allowing me to grow vines on top of my head to attack. I am also a proud Christian."

_Those look like a lot of vines. Her Quirk must be very versatile!_

Kendo stood up when Vlad King pointed at her. She gave Izuku an encouraging pat on the shoulder and went to the podium. "Hi everyone! My name is Kendo Itsuka! My Quirk, Big Fist, allows me to enlarge the muscles in my hands for more power. I also like martial arts, if that wasn't obvious from my Quirk."

_So that's her Quirk…_ Izuku mused, thinking back to when she used it on him earlier before they entered the room. _It actually makes sense if she likes martial arts because of it._

A girl with very dark green hair, almost bordering black, came up to the stage. "Sup, everyone? My name is Tokage Setsuna. My Quirk, Lizard Tail Splitter, allows me to split up my body in various different parts and make them float around. I'm also a recommended student so I hope you all can get along with me."

_Her Quirk is a mouthful to say… _Izuku thought absentmindedly. _She's the second recommended student? I wonder what does one have to do in order to get an official recommendation?_

Tetsutetsu walked over to the podium and gave a sharp-toothed grin. "Hey everyone, I'm Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! I know my name repeats so shut up and don't ask. My Quirk is Steel and it does what it says!" He raised his arm up and it immediately became the shiny metal. His smile became fiercer. "And I'm better than Kohei at Super Smash Bros."

"Fuck you." Tsuburaba emphasized his sophisticated statement by flipping him the bird, to which Tetsutetsu responded likewise. Vlad King glared at them so they didn't do anything else afterward.

A boy with white hair and completely pitch black skin replaced Tetsutetsu at the front. "I'm Kuroiro Shihai. My Quirk, Black, allows me to merge into anything that is the color black." He gave the class a chilling grin. "I also enjoy finding out anything that is forbidden or secret. So watch out~"

The class shuddered at the creepy conclusion as Kuroiro was replaced with a boy with spiky hair and a headband. "Sup? I'm Awase Yosetsu. My Quirk, Weld, allows me to fuse objects together at the atomic level. I'll just give you a generic answer and say I like training."

Awase was replaced with a girl with brown bangs covering her eyes, almost shaping like a mushroom on the top of her head. "M-My name is Komori Kinoko. My Quirk…" She seemed reluctant to say anything about it. "...is M-Mushroom. I-It allows me to grow Mushrooms, which is good since I h-happen to also like m-mushrooms." She bowed down and returned to her seat.

A doll-like girl with black hair came up to the podium. She had an emotionless expression on her face. "I am Kodai Yui. My Quirk is Size, which lets me change the size of any abiotic object. I don't really have much to say about myself." She said all this pretty quickly as if she wanted to just get it over with.

_Her Quirk reminds me of a pre-Quirk fictional hero that I read up on, but I can't remember for the life of me..._

A yellow-skinned giant with a bell-shaped head that was peppered with holes went next.

"My name is Bondo Kojiro. My Quirk, Cemedine, allows me to spray a glue-like substance from the holes in my head. I also like building and collecting small scale models." He bowed like the others and went back to his seat.

_The U.A. door must be for people like him…_

A menacing, green-skinned student took the podium next. He had curved, sharp blades that curved downwards from his face. His hair was styled in a mohawk. His dark green eyes glared at all of them, and Izuku flinched unwillingly. _His presence...it's just like Kacchan's!_

"Name, Kamakiri Togaru." His eyes were slits, surveying over everyone. He seemed to look at Izuku the longest, making him sweat. "My Quirk is Razor Sharp. It lets me produce blades from any part of my body." He demonstrated this by producing a pocket knife sized blade from his palm. "As for my fact, I will do anything for battle. Battle in heroics is a matter of life and death, for both civilians and heroes, and I have prepared for that. Knowing this, I believe...no I know-" He gritted his teeth and glared at all of them. "-that you all don't have what it takes to be here!"

"What was that!?" The whole class became an uproar. Izuku winced at the noise and buried his head under his arms.

Kendo palmed her face. "Why must you do this already…?"

_They really are the same, _Izuku thought with sweat dripping down his face. Kamakiri, who had his hands in his pocket calmly, didn't seem to mind the ire of the class. He glared again at Izuku, making him avert his eyes. _Only people like Kacchan can make fearless declarations like that!_

There was also something familiar about Kamakiri's name, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Quiet down!" Vlad King barked. The class quieted down and he sighed in resignation. "And just when I told you I don't tolerate any petty squabbles…"

Kamakiri glared at the teacher, seemingly challenging him. Vlad King just waved him off and he returned to his seat, bearing the glares of the whole class. "Alright, next person!"

A slightly chubby boy with ice blue hair stood up. He shivered when he accidentally caught Kamakiri's gaze but continued regardless. "I am Shoda Nirengeki. My Quirk, Twin Impact, allows me to remotely land a second hit several times greater than the first at any time. I also like boxing."

He sat back down as a girl with silver hair and droopy eyes went to the podium. "My name...is Yanagi Reiko. My Quirk...Poltergeist...allows me to telepathically move objects close to me. I...happen to like anything supernatural." She said all of this in a lethargic tone as if she was ready to fall asleep on the spot.

The last student, a hairy and bulky boy with thick glasses, went up. "Looks like we are saving the best for last! My name is Shishida Jurota. My Quirk, Beast, permits me to alter myself into a beast version of myself! I find perusing the dictionary to be relaxing, and I endeavor to elevate my relationship with you all!"

With that, all of the students had introduced themselves in some form or another. Vlad King cleared his throat.

"Now that we got that out of the way, put these on!" He rummaged through the pack on his back and pulled out a bunch of blue gym uniforms. "We're going to do a little assessment for you greenies! Your trials in the Hero Course start now!"

"Wait, what?" Tsuburaba asked, startled. "Already?!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Tetsutetsu slammed his fists together, already fired up.

"What about the entrance ceremony?" Honenuki asked calmly.

"We don't do any of that nonsense here!" Vlad King slammed his hands on the podium, making the class jump. "Did you have wax in your ears before?! I told you that this is the Hero Course! We aren't going to coddle you or hold back! So I'll say it again." He gave them all a bloodthirsty grin, making Izuku gulp in fear. _"Your trials in the Hero Course start now!"_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"This paperwork is a killer!" All Might slammed his face down on his deck, crumpling a few forms in front of him. He was in his "powered down" form, having already done a fair share of his work. "It is worse than any villain I have ever fought before!"

"Don't be melodramatic," Nezu chided, sipping his tea. An evil glint shined in his eye. "You only have yourself to blame for this. After all, you abandoned me to do all of the grunt work for you!"

All Might sweatdropped. Nezu got him there. "Fine fine...but can you answer a question of mine?"

"Oh?" Nezu set down the form he was working on. "What did you want to know?"

"What homeroom teachers did you assign for the first years?" All Might looked down on his desk and clenched his fists, memories of his time at U.A. coming to the front of his mind. "Depending on who you get, you will not have an easy start."

"Wondering about Midoriya Izuku, aren't you?" Nezu asked knowingly. All Might had disclosed to him the information about his successor because of the trust the two of them built with each other over time. He picked up the folder for Class 1-A and flipped through it. He frowned and picked up Class 1-B's folder and found Midoriya's profile within it. "Hm? I could have sworn…"

"Something wrong? And you still haven't answered my question."

"Ah. It's nothing." Nezu set down the folders. He gave All Might a sadistic grin as he handed Midoriya's profile to him. "As for having an easy start...well let's just say that won't matter for both classes. Class 1-A has Aizawa Shota for their homeroom and Kan Sekijiro for Class 1-B."

All Might spurted blood in shock. "Eraserhead and Vlad King?!"

"That's right!" Nezu started laughing maniacally as he picked up his cup of tea. "Those human children will know the meaning of true heroism under them!"

All Might looked at his successor's profile and saw that he was in Class 1-B. _Aizawa Shota, who expelled a whole class on the grounds that they have no potential. And Vlad King, whose militaristic teaching caused a whole class to drop out voluntarily! Young Midoriya, it seems that you will be facing hardships right from the very beginning! Maybe I should check up on you after all..._

All Might stood up and transformed into his muscle form. Nezu looked up at him with a raised brow. "Where are you going?"

"Out for a small walk," All Might responded in his heroic voice. He gave Nezu his signature grin. "Don't you worry, I'll be back soon!"

All Might left the office as Nezu grumbled. "You better come back. I'm not finishing your paperwork for you."

* * *

**Ugh, those 20 introductions dragged on for quite a while. I tried to make each as interesting as possible but I'm sure a few will just skip it outright and I honestly don't blame you. This is just how I wanted to introduce the characters, but it started to drag on for me yet.**

**Alright, so as I'm sure you can tell in my profile, this is my very first story in! I am Riftinthevoid as seen above in my profile. I've been on this site for quite a long time and it recently has been eating up most of my time, especially BNHA. That show captured my heart almost instantly. As I was reading, an idea kept on bombarding my mind and I finally decided to go out and write it, which leads to the birth of this. I know that there are a few stories that already have this premise, so here's my own take on it.**

** I'm sure for the very few that will see this will have some questions on what direction the story will go. And I will attempt to answer what I think will be the most asked right now.**

**What this story will be about: well, in short, Class 1-B. Meaning character relationships, how they evolve, and how 1-B reacts to everything that happens around them. **

**Will I be changing canon? In short, yes and no. What I mean by this is that there is going to be a butterfly effect because the most obvious change is that Izuku is now in Class 1-B than 1-A, and he was a character at the center of everything. I do plan on changing the events that do happen in the anime and manga, but not so drastically that it changes the whole premise of the show and this story, which is about how Class 1-B learns at U.A. In short, you will see the familiar events unfolding before you, but I want to change them enough to still keep it interesting and those will branch out for a few surprises I hope.**

**Izuku's growth: All I will say is that I plan on having Izuku fulfill a very different role in Class 1-B than the one he was in for 1-A. Though there is a lot of growth shown in the anime and manga, you can only go so far with the "shonen" type manga as far as characterization. I plan on going more in depth and realistically for the problems he will face, both socially and hero-like. But I don't plan on changing his personality drastically so you will all still have the adorable cinammon roll we all love.**

**Other than that, I have nothing else to say. For the few that will see this, thanks for reading. If you see any grammar mistakes, please explain to me where you saw them and explain the concept and theory so that I won't make the same mistake again. Don't hesitate to call me out on my mistakes because I love constructive criticism and people critiquing my writing, even if I make a major mistake. Until then I'll see you later.**


	2. The Obstacle Course

The hot sun beat down on Izuku's back as he trudged along with his new classmates to the gym where they would be conducting their sudden assessment. He wore the U.A. gym uniform along with his classmates and was currently shaking in fear, already scared of what the results might be. _I can't believe we already have to take an assessment! That's the prestigious U.A. for you. Will we have to use Quirks? I'm absolutely done for if we have to use our Quirks…_

"Are you alright, Midoriya-san?" Kendo asked. Izuku nodded slowly, but his body was still trembling, and his eyes were wide with fright. "You looked pale back at the classroom as well."

"I-I'm just worried about w-what we'll have to do for our assessment…" Izuku replied softly.

"I know, right!?" Tsuburaba cut into their conversation, his hands behind his head and his face contorted into a pout. "I thought we'd be taking it easy for the first day. Or, well, half-day since today is Sunday. But still, we already have our first assignment!"

"It's better this way!" Tetsutetsu countered, grinning sharply in excitement. "Getting straight to the point is my style after all!"

"I do wonder what the assessment will be testing us for?" Honenuki wondered, also joining the conversation. "We've already proved our worth with official recommendations and the entrance exam. What's the point in doing another one?"

"Alright, everyone!" Vlad King yelled, ceasing all conversations. "We're here at one of our many training facilities and my personal playground: Battlefield Delta!"

Class 1-B stood outside a gated area with barbed wire walls surrounding it. The gate itself had the signature U.A. symbol. Vlad King unlocked the gate and the class followed him into the empty and open field.

"Uh, Vlad-sensei?" Tokage was brave enough to speak up. "...there's nothing here."

"And that's the beauty of technology," Vlad King answered cryptically before fishing out a remote-like device from his pack. He pressed a button and the ground started to shake violently. Alarms blared as a sign of caution. "All right everyone, step back behind me!"

"W-What's happening?!"

"An earthquake?!"

The ground split open into two as an unknown structure started to rise up from the ground. Vlad King smirked at the gaping expressions of the students.

_What is this? _Izuku wondered as he tried to stabilize his feet against the rumbling surface. He looked at the structure and his eyes widened in recognition.

"If you couldn't already tell, this will be your assessment!" Vlad King swept his hand over to all of them. "The Delta Obstacle Course! Commissioned and designed by yours truly!"

Class 1-B looked on in awe. Tetsutetsu, in particular, had sparkles in his eyes. Vlad King just laughed at their reactions.

"I will be timing each of you," Vlad King explained. "There are four lanes so four students will go at a time. There are also many different sections that will test different abilities."

A hand shot up immediately. "Yes, Honenuki?"

"Will we be allowed to use our Quirks for this, Vlad-sensei?" Honenuki asked. Izuku crossed his fingers behind his back, his face sweating profusely. But it was to no avail.

"Of course you will!" Vlad King answered immediately. "In fact, it will be a requirement. All of you must show at least one creative application of your Quirk in this obstacle course. There are no rules other than you have to stay in your lane. How you deal with the obstacles is up to you."

"Seriously!? We're allowed to use our Quirks!?"

"That's the hero course alright! Awesome!"

"Man, this will be fun!"

A commotion immediately erupted among the class. Izuku crouched down in despair.

_No...nonononononono! _He clutched his hair in frustration. Kendo looked down at him in worry. _This has got to be the worst situation for me! I can only use_ _All Might's__ Quirk once and then I'll be absolutely useless for the rest of the obstacles! What do I do?!_

"Fun...huh?" Izuku stopped whatever he was thinking and looked towards Vlad King. He had his back facing the class. "You think...that using your Quirks as you please...will be fun?"

A heavy presence settled over the area. Izuku wheezed and found that it was hard to even breathe. _W-What is this pressure?! I can't even stand back up…_

Out of the corner of Izuku's sight, he saw that a few of his classmates fell to their knees like him. Only Kamakiri seemed unphased, though there was a lot of sweat falling down his face.

Vlad King turned around to face them. His whole demeanor changed. His face can only be described as murderous.

"**Line up," **he said simply, a complete contrast to his previous self. His tone was frigid cold. Everyone scrambled into a line in front of him, standing side by side. Izuku managed to crawl to the very end of the line before Vlad King started pacing across from them.

"**So…"** he drawled in his icy tone. **"When the burning building comes down on top of the civilians…"**

He glared at all of them. His footsteps felt ten times louder than they actually were.

"**When the villain has hostages held at knife or gunpoint…"**

He stopped at the end and stared at Izuku. Izuku himself stared back at Vlad King's eyes unwillingly. He was shaking really badly, and he couldn't turn his head to look away no matter what. Vlad King's gaze demanded absolute obedience. It was like he could pierce into Izuku's soul with just one look. _S-Scary!_

"**When the civilians look at you with tearful eyes in so much pain... when they are depending on your proficiency over your Quirks to save them…"**

Vlad King walked back until he was in front of all of them and glared.

"**The mindset you will have for those situations...will be that 'it's fun'?"**

As quick as it came, the heavy presence disappeared. The class took one collective gasp for air. Izuku clutched his chest as he breathed in the sweet gift of nature.

"Right," Vlad King said, nodding, as if he was reassuring himself. His tone was more subdued now. He started searching through his pack. "I didn't think I would need this, but all of you need to be taught the stakes of being in this position. As a hero, I mean."

He pulled out a red sash. The words "DUNCE" were written on both sides of the sash in white. Three empty boxes were below the capitalized word. "U.A. is commended for its freestyle approach to teaching. Each teacher has their own approach to teaching their students. Mine has this."

He held out the sash to them so that they could get a closer look. Judging by the word on the sash, Izuku already had a good idea what it was for.

"This is what I call the Probation Sash! To put it simply, whoever has performed what I judge to be unproficient will wear this! In this case, whoever has the longest time on the obstacle course. You might not think that's so bad, but here's the catch. You see these boxes here? Each time you wear this sash, one box will be checked off. Once all three boxes are checked...then you will be expelled."

"Expelled?!" the class shouted in perfect unifying disbelief.

"Yes," Vlad King reaffirmed. "Your checks will be carried over so don't think you will get expelled only if you get the sash three times in a row. It raises the stakes even higher!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

_Probation Sash?!_

All Might was hiding out behind the bathrooms that were near the chain-linked fence and entrance of Battlefield Delta. He was in his "buff form". He was currently looking at his successor, who was shaking in fright at the moment. _Looks like Vlad King is a strict teacher after all._ _I know it will be hard, young man, but you must persevere! U.A. will not hold your hand at all. But I've seen your tenacity during the ten months of hell, and I know you can do this!_

"Hi, All Might."

"Gah!" All Might almost reverted back into his base form in surprise. He looked down to see Nezu staring up at him expectantly, his paws behind his back. "What are you doing here, Nezu?"

"Searching for you," Nezu answered cheerfully. He looked through the fence and saw Class 1-B. "I knew you would be here. You didn't have to lie about it, Toshinori-san."

"S-Sorry. I only wanted to know how well Young Midoriya will do on his assessment."

"Not to worry. I know you're curious about how Midoriya Izuku is coming along," Nezu said easily, waving off All Might's concern. "You only ever saw him use his Quirk during the entrance exam. You'll need more information in order to teach him better, though we all know how that's going to go."

"Please help me, Nezu," All Might pleaded, clapping his hands together. He looked distraught. "One For All came so naturally and easy for me, the complete opposite for Young Midoriya. It's hard coming up with a lesson plan when we are both opposite sides of the same coin."

"Of course. All of us teachers have vowed to support you, Toshinori. That also extends for your secret protege. But-" Nezu raised a paw up before All Might can speak. "You will have to be his main teacher. No exceptions. I know your teaching skills are questionable at best-" At that, All Might hung his head in shame. "-but it is you that holds One For All and Midoriya's complete admiration in the end. You're still the best person for the job."

All Might nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, Nezu."

"Teaching is a big responsibility," Nezu continued. "It will be a good experience for you. I have a feeling you and Midoriya will teach and learn many lessons together and to each other."

They lapsed in a comfortable silence that only two good friends can experience together.

"Will you be heading back now?" All Might asked after a moment. Nezu shook his head.

"Oh no. I do believe I am quite interested in how Class 1-B conquers their first hurdle, so I'll stick around for a bit. I may be a principal that is shackled with many responsibilities, but I will always be a teacher in my heart! And besides…" Nezu gripped All Might's suit. A dark and demonic aura started to swirl around him, and he smiled sadistically. "Someone has to make sure you go back to your paperwork, you know?"

All Might laughed awkwardly and turned back to watch his successor, his body trembling ever so slightly. _He will never let me live that down…_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

The class chattered on this new development. Izuku just buried his head in his hands. _The situation just became ten times worse! _

"Now that that's out of the way, let me explain what you will be facing in this assessment."

Vlad King walked over to the entrance of the course. "Here we have a straight track field. It does exactly what it says so you better get those legs running! Those who have an early start will have more time to deal with the later hurdles!"

He walked over to a very tall, cement wall. It had footholds, but they were sparser and more spaced out than a usual rock-climbing wall. _Probably so that others will have to use their Quirks to get to them. _

"Here we have our first true obstacle! This wall is completely steep in a 90-degree angle! Though there are some footholds, some are way too far apart for your hand or legs to reach! This will be the first trial where some of your Quirks will come in handy."

He walked over to what appeared to be a low-hanging barbed wire. "This second obstacle will have you crawl under barbed wire! Better be careful or you'll get cut!"

He went over to a pit that was filled with mud. "Unless you don't want to get all dirty then you can use the hanging bars instead." He gestured over to the bars that were hanging over the mud pit. It was very high up with no ladder to get to them and the bars were spaced far apart. Again, for Quirk usage, Izuku theorized. "You'll need to be creative in order to get to those bars in the first place!"

He walked over to the cement blocks and gave a simple explanation. "These cement blocks will be in your lane. Deal with them accordingly. And finally…my favorite obstacle of them all…"

"The Pit of Despair!"

The class saw a huge pit about 50 feet wide before them. It wasn't a deep drop and had mats on the bottom to soften the drop. There was even a stuffed teddy bear in the corner. Everyone sweatdropped. _What's so despairing about this?!_

"There's a special condition to the Pit of Despair," Vlad King said, raising his finger up. "Anyone who is able to cross this pit without touching the mats below will get 20 seconds removed from your original time!"

At that, Class 1-B perked up. That was almost a godsend, especially to those whose Quirks were perfect for long-distance travel. Izuku looked at the pit, already calculating his chances.

"Now then, warm up everybody!" Vlad King ordered. "You'll have five minutes before we start. Use this time to warm up your body, warm up your Quirk, strategize, whichever helps you. Five minutes start now!"

_I've got to think about when to use One For All, _Izuku thought to himself. He did some of the stretches that All Might taught him during the ten months of hell. He wanted to do his best, even if he believed his best wouldn't be enough. He remembered the meeting he had with All Might before classes started today. Though the older man tried to give him an inkling of how to control One For All, Izuku was still left clueless. He clenched his fist, his face contorted in concentration. _I'm imagining an egg in the microwave...but I just can't put it to practice! The pain from using such a power has put an unconscious fear in me to use it. I can't just overcome it in an instant! This kind of stuff should take time! I should-_

"Are you alright, Midoriya-san?" Kendo asked for what was probably the third time today. Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. She smiled gently at him. "It's just that, you look really constipated. And your muttering is kind of getting louder and louder by the second…"

_I said all of that out loud?! _Izuku's face burned in embarrassment. He laughed awkwardly to calm himself down, but it wasn't working.

"Yeah, dude, why so nervous?" Tsuburaba asked. He was smiling as if he had no care in the world, though that notion was immediately blown away by his nervous shaking. "People will think you are a pushover if you keep acting like this."

"As if you're one to talk!" Tokage came over to them with a teasing grin. "You looked like you were ready to piss yourself when Vlad-sensei stared at you. At least Midoriya had the balls to stare directly into his eyes!"

"I'm just saying, with his nervous muttering, he seems like a pushover!"

"So, you're the one that made that distasteful comment during his introduction," Kendo said, frowning a bit. "I'll have you know that Midoriya-san actually destroyed the Zero-Pointer back in the entrance exam so he's more than qualified to be here."

"What?!" Tetsutetsu zoomed to where the group was. "Seriously?! Are we talking about Battle Center B here? That was you, Midoriya?!"

"Zero-Pointer? What are you guys talking about?" Tokage asked, clueless. Honenuki also came over, interested in the entrance exam as well.

"We had to destroy a bunch of robots with point values assigned to them," Kendo explained. "There was this huge robot that towered over all the buildings that the examiners called the Zero-Pointer, which I'm sure you can guess how many points that was worth. Midoriya-san obliterated it in one punch, though he did get badly injured because of it."

"That's metal!" Tetsutetsu said in awe.

"In one punch too…" Tsuburaba muttered. "Damn, Midoriya. Sorry for calling you a pushover. Remind me to not get on your bad side. If you can do that, then what are you so worried about?"

"I-It's f-fine, Tsuburaba-san! A-And the Z-Zero-Pointer isn't a big d-deal anyway," Midoriya reassured, flailing his arms about. More people were crowding around him because of the commotion and his stage fright was acting up. "I-I-I'm j-just w-worried w-when I s-s-should use my Q-Q-Quirk i-is all."

"Hm? Isn't your Quirk super strength? It's like the perfect Quirk for this course! Or any other situation!" Monoma said. "Speaking of Quirks, I'd like to ask you all a favor…"

"M-Monoma-san?"

"Well you all already know about my Quirk, so I just wanted to know if I can copy some," Monoma said, rubbing the back of his head. "Midoriya-san, your super strength would be perfect. The power to destroy the Zero-Pointer itself...will you allow me to copy it?"

"W-Well...That's...U-Um…" Izuku stuttered, trying to find a way to refuse without sending the wrong intention. Monoma's smile soon became a frown, however. "It's n-not like I d-don't want you to copy i-it but…"

"Save it," Monoma cut him off with a cold tone. "You don't have to say anymore. I don't want to deal with your type."

Izuku froze. _My type? What does he mean?_

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kendo asked, defending him and voicing out his thoughts at the same time.

"I just don't want to deal with people who think they're better simply because they have better Quirks," Monoma said simply. "He may be a stuttering mess, but I won't let that fool me."

"Now, now, let's not fight…" Honenuki said placatingly, trying to diffuse the situation. It didn't work as Kendo and Monoma had an intense stand-off.

Izuku trembled as he was caught in-between the two daunting glares. _Don't just stand there, Izuku. Do something!_

Izuku opened his mouth, but Tsuburaba already beat him to the punch. "Have my Quirk dude. It's no problem for me."

"Thank you, Tsuburaba-san," Monoma said, smiling at him. "It's good to know that _some _people are willing to share." Izuku flinched at the obvious jab at him.

"Doesn't Midoriya have the right idea though?" Tokage said, adding her own two cents in. "Vlad-sensei literally made this a competition for us. Whoever gets last place gets the Probation Sash. Helping out your opponent increases your chances of getting it."

"Well, if that is your attitude…" Monoma raised up his hand with a cocky grin. His index finger split in two, floating in the air in front of him. Tokage looked shocked.

"How did you-?! When did you-?!" She looked all around her body before looking back at Monoma, giving him an unimpressed look. "Dude...not cool."

"Hey, you're the one who gave me that speech about survival of the fittest." Monoma turned his back on them and walked away. He turned back to give Izuku one last glare. "But I wish you luck all the same."

_D-Did I just make another enemy? _Izuku slumped down, a shadow of despair falling over him. _I just can't catch a break today, can't I?_

"Don't mind him, Midoriya-san," Kendo said. Izuku looked to her and saw that her hands were clenched. "He talks big about people acting better than him, but he pulls that stunt with Tokage-san. Besides-" She smiled at him, making him look away in embarrassment. "-I'm sure you had a good reason for not allowing him to copy your Quirk."

_TWEEEEEEET!_

They all looked over at Vlad King, who had a whistle in his hands. "TIME'S UP! The first four who will attempt the course will be Kamakiri, Tsunotori, Bondo, and Shiozaki!"

"Guess you better back up your words back in the classroom, huh?" Tetsutetsu said to Kamakiri. Kamakiri just glared at him harshly, making Tetsutetsu step back in surprise.

"Quit talking shit," Kamakiri growled. "I'm not here to make friends or play around. Vlad-sensei was right. None of you have what it takes to be in the hero course. As for backing up my words...I'll let my actions speak for itself this time."

"You're already talking like that?" Kendo said, approaching him. "I keep on telling you should be nicer to other people."

"I can tolerate you," Kamakiri said, his tone softer. He shoved his hands in his pocket and looked away. "You at least know the true meaning of battle. The others wouldn't even be able to survive a single day of being a hero."

Kamakiri walked over to his lane. Kendo rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "He's still just the same as ever, huh?"

Izuku looked on their interaction in wonder. _They must know each other from before._

"What's his problem?" Tetsutetsu asked Kendo.

"He's just another arrogant fool," Monoma scoffed. Kamakiri crouched in his lane. "He's all just talk, I'm sure."

"START!"

Kamakiri _exploded _across the track field, leaving everyone else in the dust.

Everyone's jaw dropped. Tsuburaba accurately voiced everyone's thoughts. "W-What the fuck?!"

Kamakiri reached the wall first. He grew blades on his palm and dug them into the wall, scaling it while completely disregarding the footholds. He was already through the barbed wire by the time the other three were on top of the wall.

"Guess he wasn't just talking smack after all," Tokage muttered, scratching her chin. Kamakiri already cleared the mud pit by elongating his blades and curving them to hook on to the bars. He climbed over the stacked cement blocks easily enough and reached the Pit of Despair.

"At least there's no way that he can cross that with his Quirk...right?" Needless to say, they were wrong.

Kamakiri grew small blades on both of his feet and flipped himself down. He then ran _on the wall _to the end of the pit, digging his blades in for more traction. He flipped himself over the edge and dusted himself off.

"With the 20 second reduction, Kamakiri's time is 40.03 seconds!"

"EHHHHHHH!?"

"40 seconds?!"

"Already the bar has been set so high…"

Monoma didn't say anything, but his shock was evident, even when he tried to hide it. Kamakiri walked past him. He had a bloodthirsty grin on his face. "Now do you see the difference between us?"

Izuku was writing in his notebook rapidly, noting all the creative uses of Kamakiri's Quirk while making speculations of his own. _Kamakiri-san has such fine control over his Quirk! He's definitely just like Kacchan._

Izuku shivered when he made the comparison. _I think I should stay away from him given how my interactions with Kacchan tend to go…_

"The mud is icky…" Tsunotori said in disgust, trying to shake the mud from her legs. She and Bondo tried to reach the bars but ended up having to wade through the pit instead. Shiozaki used her vines to get across.

"I'm sure we'll be allowed to use the showers afterward," Honenuki reassured her. "You all should get your scores now."

Once the other three got their scores. Vlad King blew his whistle again, catching everyone's attention. He looked over to Kamakiri, who was standing by lonesome near the chain-linked fence. "Now you all see that?! That's what I'm talking about with creative Quirk application! I expect all of you to do the same! Now, the next participants will be Monoma, Kendo, Yanagi, and Kodai."

"Guess it's my turn then. Wish me luck," Monoma said teasingly, walking over to his lane. Vlad King yelled "START!" and they ran across the field.

"Man, this pisses me off," Tokage said, annoyed, as she watched Monoma separate his body parts to get over the barbed wire. Though, watching him use her Quirk gave her a few new ideas for the obstacle course. "Well, he's cunning. If anything, I gotta respect him for that."

Izuku was writing more notes. _Kodai-san just shrunk those cement blocks while Yanagi looked like she was struggling to float them away. And Kendo-san is amazing with her Quirk..._

Kendo was doing very well. She had used her Quirk to expand her hands so that she can reach the footholds of the wall and the bars over the mud pit easy enough. The only obstacle she seemed to struggle with was the barbed wire, but she still was ahead of everyone else. At the Pit of Despair, she just jumped in casually.

"I know my limits and there was no way that I can get across that," She said modestly as she received her respectable score of 110.46 seconds. She frowned when Monoma came after and, using Tsuburaba's Quirk, made air platforms that allowed him to get across the pit and get a score of 103.63 seconds.

"Alright! The next four will be Tokage, Tsuburaba, Shoda, and Tetsutetsu!"

There wasn't anything that was particularly interesting in this run to Izuku. Tsuburaba and Tokage ended using their Quirks the same way Monoma did. He cringed as Shoda jumped in the air and then looked as if he got punched in the stomach. He soared over the mud pit and slammed onto the ground, wheezing all the while the others passed him.

"Oohhh…did he just use his Quirk on himself?"

"That's dedication…"

Even with that, Shoda still got the current worst score of 135.89 seconds. Then came the part he was dreading the most: his turn.

"You can do it, Midoriya-san," Kendo said, patting his shoulder. Izuku tried to smile at her, but it ended up looking wobbly.

_I only have one shot at using One For All. _Izuku lined up at his lane and crouched down. _The best place to use it would be at the end at the Pit of Despair. But even with the 20-second reduction, will it be enough? Egg in the microwave...imagine the egg in the microwave!_

"START!"

At that, Midoriya ran across the track as fast as he can, hoping that he would get his chance to prove himself.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Midoriya isn't doing too well, is he?" Tsuburaba said after a moment. It was true. With each obstacle, Midoriya was stumbling and making simple mistakes. By the time he was on top of the wall, the other three had already left him behind to complete the mud pit. "Are you sure he was the one that destroyed the Zero-Pointer?"

"If this is the best he can do, then I sincerely doubt it," Monoma said. "Look at him. He's so arrogant that he thinks he doesn't even need to use his Quirk. Look where that got him."

"Come on, he's not like that! And he did destroy the Zero-Pointer! I saw it myself!" Itsuka said, frowning as she saw him drop down and clumsily go through the barbed wires. Itsuka knew that Midoriya could do better, but his nervous personality combined with his apparent nonexistent self-confidence was holding him back.

This wasn't the Midoriya she had seen back at the entrance exam. She remembered vividly how he had pushed against her. At first, she thought he was crazy for going _towards _the Zero-Pointer. Until she saw the girl trapped under the rubble.

Itsuka had seen Midoriya's expression while he was struggling through the crowd. She hadn't seen so much determination in someone's eyes before, despite his scared expression. Itsuka was scared too until the more rational part of her mind calmed her down.

_There's no way U.A. will allow anything to happen to her, _Itsuka thought during the time. So, she was surprised when Midoriya actually broke free of the crowd and continued running. Her surprise turned to shock when he had jumped and obliterated the Zero-Pointer in one punch. Her shock turned to shame when she didn't act when he did. She remembered thinking that he must've gotten a lot of villain points with that kind of firepower.

Itsuka also recalled being in despair after she got home since she only got 25 Villain Points, which was way below the cut-off for acceptance. She had actually been focused on helping people during the exam rather than getting any points because of her "big sister" instinct, as it was named back in her middle school. She thought she failed until she got her acceptance letter and learned the existence of Rescue Points, which let her place fifth on the exam.

Then, much to her surprise, Itsuka had found the same green-haired boy from the exam standing outside of U.A.'s entrance. Where she expected a confident young student, he was actually a shy and stuttering mess. It had been such a contrast to what she was expecting that she had been caught off guard. She immediately engaged him in conversation and tried to make the atmosphere between them comfortable, which Midoriya seemed to appreciate.

Then they introduced themselves and that was when Itsuka realized. Midoriya Izuku. The person who had placed sixth after her. The person who had solely got by with only 60 Rescue Points and nothing else.

The Rescue Points were only revealed during the acceptance. That meant that Midoriya had essentially thrown his whole exam to just _save _people.

If that wasn't heroic, then Itsuka was sure that they were all secretly training to be villains.

But now…

_Just what kind of life did you live to make you this nervous, Midoriya-san? _Itsuka wondered, watching Midoriya fall face first in the mud. He crawled out of the pit to the cement blocks, where he currently tried to scale them to no avail. _And why aren't you using your Quirk?_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

_Oh god, this is bad! This is really bad!_

The other three had already finished the course while he just arrived at the Pit of Despair. He looked down at the mats, out of breath and sweating. His whole body was caked in mud, but he ignored that fact for now. He knew he took longer than most to get through the course to this point. _Dammit, I can't waste any more time! I have to use One For All here!_

He crouched down and felt the familiar rush of power go through his legs. A slight bout of fear went through him when he realized how much pain he would be in afterward, but he pushed it aside. _"SMAA-"_

Before Izuku can release his power, he felt his legs get tied up. He yelped in surprise, One For All dissipating from his legs, and was dragged through the ground. He was then hanging upside in front of Vlad King.

"Midoriya," Vlad King growled. Izuku let out a little "eep!" in fright. "You were just about to use your Quirk, weren't you?"

At Izuku's fearful nod, Vlad King continued. "I saw your entrance exam and how you destroyed the Zero-Pointer. You got so injured that you couldn't continue after that, is that right? So, if you're using that power now at the very end, that must mean that power injures you every time you use it."

_H-He figured it out!_

"So, each time you use your Quirk, you end up being **useless**." Vlad King said. Izuku flinched at being called useless. Vlad King's tone turned frigid like before. **"Are you just going to hold down everyone here when you become useless? Aizawa and I don't see eye-to-eye on a few things, but if there is one thing we both hate with a passion, it's useless people. With this kind of power and how you're using it, you can never become a hero."**

Izuku froze. He was near tears at this point. _I'm...hearing those words...again…_

"_I'm sorry son, but without a Quirk, you can't become a hero."_

"_**Useless** Deku! Your Quirkless self can never be a hero like me!"_

"_You Midoriya?! You're applying to U.A?! HAHAHA!"_

"You have one more chance," Vlad King said, setting Izuku down. "Go back to the start of the course. I paused your time during our conversation, but I'm not resetting it. If you use your powers and become incapacitated again, then I'll just do you a favor and give you the boot to expulsion."

"Expulsion straight off the bat?!"

"Midoriya-san…" Kendo said in worry.

Izuku just nodded solemnly, his hair shadowing his face. He walked off to the start of the lane. Kendo tried to talk to him, but the voice of his own thoughts drowned out the other voices. _I have to start all over. My time won't be reset so I'll most likely be in last place and get the Probation Sash. But I have to use my Quirk once without incapacitating myself or else I'll be expelled instead. What should I do?!_

Izuku found himself back in his lane and crouched once more. _Vlad King is right. If I just use my power like I am right now, I'll just end up being a burden to everyone._

At Vlad King's "START!" Izuku just jogged half-heartedly.

_Am I really cut out to be a hero? When so many people told me I couldn't? Maybe I should give up..._

Suddenly, a bunch of memories assaulted his mind at once.

"_You, young man, can be a hero!"_

"_That curly-green-haired boy? You know him? He saved my life!"_

"_I'm so proud of you, Izuku...you look so cool right now, you know?"_

"_If it means anything to you, I think you're already a hero!"_

Izuku started picking up his pace.

_No...No NO NO! I won't let it end here!_

He broke out into a sprint.

_There are people that do believe in me! All Might...the nice girl...Mom...even Kendo-san…_

He ran as hard as he can. He could feel his shoes digging into the dirt with each step.

_I'm not the __**useless**__ Deku anymore! I'm Midoriya Izuku!_

He jumped into a crouching position when he was a few feet away from the wall. He could feel One For All rushing through his legs. Whatever fear he had before was completely washed away by his newfound determination.

"_And I'll save people with a smile! Just like All Might!"_

The front soles of his red shoes burst open, revealing that his toes were glowing with red veins of power.

"SMAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHHH!"

And then he _jumped_.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Itsuka smiled. She saw it. That determination that was in his eyes back in the entrance exam had returned full force here.

"SMAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHHH!"

_KERWHOOSH!_

"Holy-" Tokage said in awe, stepping back. The sudden gust of wind ruffled her hair.

"-shit," Tsuburaba finished, his jaw dropped. Everyone looked on in amazement as Midoriya flailed in the air, screaming his head off. Monoma looked positively flabbergasted. Even Kamakiri's eyes were wide.

They weren't focused on what Midoriya was screaming about. They didn't focus on the fact that his landing was probably going to be painful. No, they focused on the fact that Midoriya _literally jumped over the whole obstacle course._

"I told you," Kendo said smugly. _I knew you could do it, Midoriya-san._

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"HOLY CRAP! AAAAHHHHH!"

Izuku screamed as he flew over the barbed wires, a good distance between him and the ground. He looked back and saw his broken toes flapping in the wind. _I flooded all my power to my toes at the last second. It still hurts like hell...but not as much like back in the entrance exam!_

He passed the mud pit and cement blocks. He started falling and saw that he would go straight into the Pit of Despair. _I don't have enough air to pass the pit! I need to brace myself!_

Izuku curled himself into a ball as he slammed into the mats. He cried out in pain as his toes were impacted too. Once he stopped rolling, he slowly picked himself up, minding his injury. Vlad King stood at the edge of the pit, looking down at Izuku expectantly.

"Vlad-sensei!" Izuku didn't know where he got his confidence from, but he was going to use it before it disappeared on him. Izuku wriggled his toes, which screamed in protest, and gave Vlad King a determined grin. "I can still move!"

Vlad King's face scrunched up. Izuku looked up at him in worry as he doubled over, his body shaking.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone looked on, dumbfounded, as Vlad King spilled his guts all over the floor. He was still laughing when he went down into the pit and picked Izuku up, much to his surprise and fear. He carried Izuku out of the pit and gently set him down, minding his toes.

"Now that-" he ruffled Izuku's hair. Izuku did not know what to feel right now. "-is how you prove me wrong! Well done kid! You sure made me look like a fool!"

Izuku blushed under the praise. He walked back to the group where he was promptly assaulted by everyone.

"What the heck man?! Where were you hiding all this power!?"

"Why didn't you use your Quirk like that the first time?"

"SO METAL!"

"Guys! Give him some space!" Kendo shouted. She crouched down and inspected his toes. "Are your feet alright? Should we go to the infirmary?"

"I-I'm fine for now. Thanks f-for worrying," Izuku said, smiling at her shakily. Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by Vlad-sensei.

"Alright! LINE UP!" At the authoritative tone, the whole class lined up like before. "Now then, I'll have to say that this was a job well done!" Everyone blinked owlishly at the praise. "Don't look at me like that! You all passed the requirements, even if some needed a bit more prodding than others-" Izuku ducked his head at that, embarrassed. "-but that still deserves some commendation for all of you. But I also did say that the worst one here would be getting the Probation Sash…"

_That's right…_ Izuku thought before his eyes widened. _Wait! Vlad-sensei didn't give my time! Don't tell me…_

"Midoriya. Will you step up here?" Izuku felt dread building up in his stomach. He hated being right sometimes.

Izuku stepped in front of Vlad-sensei, his hands clenched, and his teeth gritted together. _Dammit! I knew this would happen since I didn't clear the Pit of Despair. But to hear it now just makes it worse!_

"Your time was 159.63 seconds." Izuku trembled in place. His eyes were closed to keep the tears from falling. Even with the 20-second reduction, he wouldn't have made it. He felt the sash go over his shoulder and clasp at his waist. "I'm not a man who goes back on his word, but I won't give you a check because you learned your lesson the second time around. But remember. Villains in the real world don't give you second chances. If this was a real situation, you would already be dead. Don't view this sash as a failure, but as motivation to better yourself. And…"

Vlad King paused and scratched his cheeks awkwardly. "And I also wanted to apologize. I tend to say some very harsh things when I'm in the moment. I said all that to get you motivated, but even I realize I went too far. Disregard my previous statement. You can become a hero, Midoriya."

Izuku opened his eyes and let his tears flow. "Thank you, Vlad-sensei! I'll make sure I'm worthy of that declaration!"

Vlad King nodded awkwardly. "All right. Class is officially dismissed! Go take a shower, change, then leave! Classes officially start tomorrow! Midoriya, go to Recovery Girl to heal your toes. And…" He fished out a slip and quickly wrote his signature on it. "Normally we would do this later, but I'll give you special permission to go to the Support Course to fix your shoes. It's best if you go early in the morning tomorrow."

Izuku looked down at his blown-out shoes and chuckled awkwardly. He took the note gratefully. "Yes, Vlad-sensei!"

Vlad King turned around and walked towards the gate. Kendo looked to him again. "Do you need some help getting to the infirmary?"

"Y-Yes please," Kendo wrapped Izuku's arm around her, making him go red in the process. He then limp-walked to the infirmary, using Kendo as support.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"_That successor of mine almost gave me a heart attack! But then he went and pulled a stunt like that! Since when did you become so cool, Young Midoriya!?"_

"I'll admit, we have a good bunch this year," Nezu said with a smile. "How wonderful! I can't wait to see how they will grow as heroes!"

They saw Vlad King walking over to where they watched the class. All Might raised his hand in greeting. "Vlad King!"

Vlad King looked over and noticed the duo. He changed directions and walked over to them. "All Might sir. I didn't have a chance to say it during your orientation, but you were an inspiration for my squad back when I was in the army. It's an honor working with you and I hope you can rely on me for anything you need."

"Don't be so formal! We're all equals here in this profession," All Might said, laughing. "Though I must say, don't you think you were a bit too harsh with Young Midoriya?"

"On the contrary," Nezu said. "That was the softest I've ever seen you, Kan-san. And you even complimented the class! That isn't your usual style."

"I...decided to change some of my teaching methods," Vlad King responded, grimacing. Nezu nodded sympathetically.

"You're still bothered about last year, huh? Sorry to remind you." Vlad King shook his head.

"No. If anything, I should be the one thanking you for this second chance. I won't fail you or this class...not this time…"

All Might scratched his head in confusion. It was obvious that he was out-of-the-loop for whatever happened between them and it seemed like a personal matter so he wouldn't pry. He trusted Nezu had everything under control.

"Well don't let us keep you! Have a nice day!" Nezu waved his paw in goodbye. Vlad King nodded and bowed to them both before taking his leave. "Don't you worry, Toshinori-san. Midoriya is in good hands."

"It brings me relief to hear you say that," All Might said. He felt Nezu grip his hand and he was unceremoniously pulled back to the main building.

"Let's go now, Toshinori-san," Nezu said cheerfully, the dark aura coming back. "We wouldn't want to be swamped in paperwork now, would we?"

All Might had tears flowing from his eyes. Curse his most hated nemesis that laid on his desk!

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Owww…" Izuku rubbed the bump that was growing on his head. Recovery Girl was angry with Izuku for coming into her office for the second time since the entrance exam so he had an intimate experience with her cane. Afterward, he took a shower and changed into his U.A. uniform before leaving. He yawned and his eyelids drooped, already feeling the effects of Recovery Girl's Quirk. _Thank god it's all over…_

He remembered that everyone constantly asked him questions back on the walk to the main building. Izuku never thought he would be the center of attention like that ever. It felt nice to him, having everyone praise him instead of bully him like before.

"Midoriya-san!" Izuku blinked and looked back to see Kendo running towards him. "I'm glad I caught up to you! Why didn't you wait for me?"

"H-Huh?" Izuku blinked at the prospect that an actual girl waited for him. He immediately bowed his head, red-faced. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know that you were waiting!"

"It's fine," Kendo said, accepting his apology easily. She looked down towards his busted shoes. "How are your toes?"

"It's good." Izuku wriggled his bandaged toes through the holes in his shoes. He yawned once more. "I-I'm just so tired from today..."

"Yeah, it really was crazy," Kendo agreed. She let out a huge sigh and slumped her shoulders. "I can't believe Vlad King would just single you out like that! That was seriously unfair to you. But then you blew us all away by going over the whole course in one jump! You're seriously amazing, you know that?"

"T-Thanks," Izuku said, flustered from the praise. They walked together afterward. Izuku and Kendo just talked casually about whatever was on their mind. Honestly, Izuku enjoyed it a lot. _Is this...what having friends feel like? She's my friend, right?_

"Oi, Midoriya-san!"

_Again? _Izuku turned back. His eyes widened in shock. _M-Monoma-san?!_

Sure enough, Monoma ran all the way until he was in front of Izuku. He gasped for breath and had his hands on his knees. Kendo immediately stood in front of Izuku defensively. Monoma noticed this and raised his hands placatingly.

"Whoa chill! I'm not here to start any beef!" Monoma said quickly. "Rather, I want to make some amends."

"Amends?" Kendo relaxed her stance. Izuku stepped towards Monoma.

"W-What did you need, Monoma-san?" Izuku asked. Monoma held out a yellow bag. Izuku's eyes widened when he recognized that it was his.

"For starters, you forgot your backpack. I was waiting in the classroom for you until I saw you leaving from the window," He said. Izuku took it and gave him a grateful look. Monoma then scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "And...I wanted to apologize. For letting my prejudice get to me. We all heard Vlad-sensei talking about how your Quirk works. You didn't want me to copy your Quirk because you knew I would get hurt using it, right? For that, I apologize for misjudging you."

"N-No worries, M-Monoma-san!" Izuku said, waving his arms around frantically. Though he was secretly pleased that he didn't make another enemy like he thought. "I-I should apologize f-for not c-clearing up t-the misunderstanding e-earlier!"

"So, no hard feelings?" Monoma asked, holding out his hand. Izuku shook his head and took his hand shakily. They did a brief handshake. "You don't need to worry about me using your Quirk. No offense, but I kinda like my arms too much. Though your Quirk really is weird. What kind of power hurts someone that much after one use?"

"I-It's complicated," Izuku said, a bit of sweat falling down from his face. _I can't tell him about One For All! I'm going to have to refine my backstory a bit more._

"Well I'm glad that's cleared up," Kendo said, all smiles now. "Why did you jump to conclusions so fast?"

"Let's just say that not everyone liked my Quirk," Monoma grumbled. Izuku tilted his head in concern and he waved him off. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine now."

"Can you still apologize to Tokage-san?" Kendo asked. "You weren't really nice to her either."

"Seriously? She was the one who wanted to hold me back," Monoma defended himself. He and Kendo had another stand-off, though it was lighter than the one before. Monoma caved first. "Fine, fine. I'll do it tomorrow."

"Great!" Kendo clapped her hands together. "Would you like to walk to the station with us?"

Monoma thought about it for a bit. "Eh? Why not?"

And so, the three went to the station. Izuku pawed at the Probation Sash. Despite the day's hardships, Izuku thought it wasn't so bad. He had secured his place in Class 1-B and proved to himself that he could stand amongst his peers, even with a destructive power. And he even made some new friends! Probably…

All in all, Izuku finally felt like he was taking his first true steps into becoming a hero.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Disappointment.

That was all Togaru felt while he was riding the train. His hands were on his sides, clenched tightly.

Disappointment. At his class. At the morons that he will have to spend the next three years with.

_None of them understand the spirit of battle. I thought it would be different. Instead, it's just like middle school all over again!_

An image of Kendo appeared in his head and his hands slackened. _She isn't so bad. She understands. Vlad-sensei too, now that I think about it. That's the only silver lining here._

Another image appeared in his mind. Of the person who had caught everyone's attention and whose run in the course was the highlight of the whole assessment.

_Midoriya…_

Togaru didn't understand him. How such a nervous pushover like him could still find a way to beat the odds into his favor. The teacher effectively cornered him on all sides. Despite the situation, he still managed to win, in a way.

_And his eyes...in that moment…_

They were like Kendo's. Or his Mom's. Or his.

Or even like his father's.

Togaru entered his house after he left the station. His mother was in the kitchen, but she heard the door open.

"Toga! You're back! How did school go? You find any interesting people?"

Togaru adjusted his backpack and went up to his room. He looked at a family photo where his mom and dad were together with a younger version of him. He stared at his dad in particular. His expression was murderous. "No. Nobody _at all."_

* * *

**Holy shit! This chapter is longer than the first! I didn't even mean to make this long! My hands just kept typing and typing with inspiration and ideas! I'll just say as a warning that chapters usually aren't this long. For some reason, it turned out this way, not that I'm complaining. Alright then, let's get to what I wanted to discuss with you all on this chapter.**

**About my previous "yes and no" answer about changing canon. This chapter is what I mean by that. You got the Quirk assessment, which is the familiar thing that all audiences know and are comfortable with. Only this time I changed it to an obstacle course, which I feel is new and interesting enough for people to want to read it. I know some people don't like reading stories where literally only one thing has changed and that change doesn't really change anything in canon. In short, a rewrite of the actual manga or anime. So that's why I'm trying my best to create the butterfly effect that I promised you that will change how the story goes, but in a believable sense. Now on to the other thing I want to address.**

**Some people might disagree with how I made One For All work. They may say that the physics in this chapter doesn't work or make sense. And I know that some have actually done some calculations on how One For All should. So here is what I'll say to you. ANIME LOGIC LOLZ**

**In all seriousness, I'll make sure that Izuku won't get overpowered or anything here. He will struggle just like in the manga and anime. Though you might see a few new moves or styles...I'll just let you think on that. **

**The reception! I did not expect to receive such a positive reception! As of right now, this story has 710 views. 59 favorites. And 94 followers. All in a week! That is actually mind-blowing to me guys. And the reviews. I'm getting constructive criticism! Thank you so much for that. For those who are on the more critical side, don't be afraid to leave a bad review! I'll take any constructive criticism. This story's purpose is also for me to get better at writing so I'm learning as I write these chapters you know? Now to address some of the review's concerns.**

**I'm surprised at the amount of comments on if there are going to be romance in the story. I'll just give you a simple answer and say that it will actually be very likely, but that's going to be in the far off future. Izuku's just an awkward boy after all in his teens and I did emphasize that I will be focusing on his social problems as well as his heroic ones. I want to get a realistic progression on both of those since I know the big mistake people make is that they usually rush them. I want avoid that so it will take its time. As for who gets paired with who...well we just have to wait and see. Let me address one specific review I want to answer.**

**For you fencer29, if you even read this actually. You expressed concern over Vlad King's character. Well I hope this chapter gives hints on his true personality. After all, Class 1-B doesn't have many appearances so this gives me a bit of leeway for their personalities and personal motivations. I did base his thing off of a stereotypical military instructor but of course I will expand upon that. After all, who says that only the students should get character development?**

**That's all I have for now. Let me know your thoughts, concerns, anything really. If you see any mistakes, PM me or review, I'll be fine with either. I appreciate any constructive criticism you give me so I'll be excited. Thank you again for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**


	3. First Day Jitters

The subway car rumbled softly as the morning light filled Izuku's vision. He blinked and yawned, tears in the corner of his eyes. He wiggled his toes that stuck out from his damaged shoes, garnering a few strange looks from the other passengers. He remembered how his mom had freaked out when she saw his toes wrapped in bandages. It had taken him a long time to calm her down. He looked back at his phone before his face turned bright red. The other passengers shuffled away from him when he started making weird noises.

_I have a girl's phone number!_

Sure enough, Izuku saw Kendo's name sitting right above his mother's contact. He clicked on it and reread the text messages that they had sent to each other. He was surprised when Kendo contacted him not long after he arrived home and they had a small conversation. They talked about the events of the Quirk assessments before texting about whatever was on their minds at the time. Izuku made sure to not immediately answer Kendo's texts lest she thought that he was deliberately waiting for her response, which he totally was in the first place.

_That's actually really pathetic, now that I think about it…_

Monoma had refused to give out his number, citing personal reasons. Izuku didn't really understand but hadn't pried in the end.

He soon arrived at his destination and walked out of the subway station. He walked towards the U.A. barrier when he noticed a black-hooded figure standing right in front of the scanner. The figure had a notebook that he was furiously scribbling in. Izuku was standing behind awkwardly, unsure of what to do. "E-Excuse me..."

"Oh!" The black figure whirled around quickly, startling Izuku. Izuku had to hold in a cringe when he saw the man's face and how chapped it was. "My bad, my bad. That uniform must mean you're a student here." The man bent down and looked at Izuku's ID, causing Izuku to lean away in response. "And you're in Class 1-B! Meaning...the _Hero Course…_"

"T-Thank you," Izuku stuttered, creeped out by the stranger's blatant invasion of his privacy. An awkward pause began between the two of them. The man just stared at Izuku, who was fumbling around with his ID, making him even more uncomfortable. The stranger returned to his notebook but retained his proximity to Izuku. Izuku accidentally showed the wrong side of his ID to the scanner out of nervousness, prompting it to buzz with red lights. "U-Umm…"

"U.A. must be a very nice school to make all these great heroes, huh?" the man spoke up again in his raspy voice. "Yes, all these _great _heroes…"

"Y-Yeah," Izuku shakily agreed. The stranger's tone felt off to him, but Izuku just chalked it up to his nervousness. The man seemed to notice this.

"Oh, sorry. My face is creeping you out, right?" he said, scratching his cheek and causing a few flakes to fall down. "My Quirk does this to my skin, you see. And I don't really like moisturizer…"

"S-Sorry for offending you!" Izuku bowed to him. He was also curious about the man's Quirk but held his questions in. The older person just laughed, making Izuku shudder involuntarily.

"Can I ask you one question?" the man asked. At Izuku's unsure nod, he continued. "Who is your favorite..._hero…_?"

"All Might," Izuku answered automatically. "He's always there to save the day! He refused the national award, which shows just how humble he is! He's my complete inspiration!" Izuku blushed when he realized what had just gushed out of his mouth.

"I see…so _All Might _is your favorite hero..." Before Izuku could say anything else, the man was all smiles again. "Alright, thanks for answering my question. Don't let me keep you. Do your best, future _hero_!"

With that, the creepy man walked off, hands in his pockets. Izuku let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding in. _T-That was unexpectedly intense. Who was that person?_

Erasing the incident from his mind, he correctly showed his ID to the scanner, prompting the barrier to open up for him. He headed towards the main building. He pulled out the slip that Vlad King signed for him, which also had directions to the Support Course. _The Development Studios should be on the first floor if I'm reading this correctly…_

Izuku navigated through the halls until he felt the building shake. He heard the familiar noise of an explosion. _W-What was that?! Don't tell me...K-Kacchan's here!?_

Izuku was walking through the halls more cautiously now. A familiar burning sensation rushed through his nostrils and he was startled when he saw smoke trailing out of the corridor. He ran towards it in fear that someone may have gotten hurt. He waved his hands frantically to disperse the smoke around him. He found the room it was coming from and looked up at the sign above. _It's not Kacchan! It's...the Development Studios!?_

"GODDAMMIT, HATSUME!" Izuku flinched at the loud voice that came from the room. "I told you not to cause another explosion! Look at this mess!"

"It's not my fault this time, Power Loader-sensei! You were watching me! You should've told me that would've happened!"

The smoke dispersed. Shaking, Izuku entered the room and saw that there was a fume hood sucking all of the smoke away. He sighed to himself in relief and looked around at the messy surroundings curiously. For a period of time during middle school, Izuku thought he would try out for the Support Course if he failed the Hero exam. The Support Course exam was always later than the Hero exam due to the number of failed applicants that applied for Support right afterwards. All he really wanted to do was help people and being a hero was the best way to do that. If he hadn't received One For All, then he would've settled for tinkering and helping the heroes survive their dangerous work. In a way, he would be still indirectly saving people in the end.

_In another life, I could've been here instead. I don't want to insult those that work hard to make our equipment but...I'm kind of glad I got accepted into the Hero Course instead of here…_

The door on the opposite side of the room burst open and a pink-haired girl tumbled through. "I seriously didn't do anything wrong this time! You can't bla- whoa!"

"Gah!"

She crashed right into Izuku, sending them both sprawling to the floor. Izuku rubbed his head before panicking. The girl had fallen right on top of him and he was feeling some very bouncy things. _B-B-B-Boobs!_

"Oww…" the pink-haired girl said. She looked down at Izuku, who was currently imitating a cherry. "Oho! Who do we have here?"

"Get off him, Hatsume. Can't you see that you're giving him a heart attack?" Power Loader said, coming out of the door. Hatsume complied, grinning, and got off of Izuku. Izuku's brain did a hard reset and he got up, head still steaming. Power Loader noticed the probation sash that Izuku wore. "Huh...you're one of Vlad King's students. What are you doing here? Hero Course doesn't start in another 30 minutes."

"A hero student?! That must mean hero costumes!" Hatsume zoomed towards Izuku. Izuku froze, just staring into her crosshair-shaped pupils. "Oh, Power Loader-sensei, you shouldn't have!"

"I didn't," Power Loader responded dryly, prying Hatsume off of Izuku. Izuku gave him a grateful look. "Now, what are you doing here? You're not allowed to pester us without any notification from a teacher."

"I-I do have a note f-from Vlad-sensei," Izuku confirmed, still disoriented from Hatsume's eccentric introduction. He gave the note to Power Loader and raised his leg up awkwardly, displaying his shoes. "I was wondering if you could fix these…"

"Damaged gear already?" Power Loader asked in amazement, examining the shoes. "The school year barely started! You hero kids really are crazy. Still, this is nothing compared to what I've seen before. I can repair these in just a moment."

"Oooh, ooh! Can I do them?" Hatsume interjected, waving her arms up. "You said you had an important project to work on, right, Power Loader-sensei? I can even improve them for you!"

"You do realize I can probably fix these in about 30 seconds, right?" Power Loader said, deadpan. Hatsume pouted and he sighed. "Alright, fine. You do need experience in designing some shoe tech anyway. You're always about mechs this and mechs that…"

"S-Shoe tech? I o-only want them r-repaired…" Izuku tried to protest. These were his favorite pair of shoes after all and he didn't want to change them in any way. Power Loader shook his head.

"Your shoes were damaged because of your Quirk, right?" Power Loader asked. At Izuku's nod, he continued. "Then it's better if you improve them. Unless you're wearing something different in your costume, your shoes can get damaged again if you use your Quirk in the same manner and that'll just be more trouble for us in the long run. Plus, you don't have to worry about Hatsume. She's _my_ recommended student, after all."

"Yup, yup!" She bounced up and down enthusiastically. "Though, are you _sure _that you don't want me to put rocket power soles-"

"Nope," Power Loader said immediately. "You are to stick with his specifications only."

"Booooo..." She grabbed Izuku's hand and led him deeper into the Development Studios. "Oh, well. Good luck, Power Loader-sensei!"

Izuku looked on in wonder at the second room of the studio. High-tech equipment surrounded him everywhere and there were many chalkboards with blueprints pinned to them. Unfinished appliances and mechanical parts littered the many tables. In the corner, there was a stand with an unfinished mech suit that was sparking a bit. The hand attached to the suit crashed to the ground unceremoniously.

"That's what we were working on before you arrived," Hatsume explained, seemingly not minding the broken state the mech was in. "Now then, let's go make a baby together!"

Izuku blushed at the innuendo. _M-Make a baby together!? She means an invention, right? Does she even realize what she's saying!?_

They walked to an area with a box that Izuku recognized as a 3D printer. Hatsume held out her hand expectantly and Izuku quickly removed his shoes to give to her. She immediately got out a tape measure and set to work. She typed her calculations on the computer and placed the shoes in the printer. She looked back at Izuku with another grin. "Are you _sure _that you don't want-"

"P-Please just fix them," Izuku interrupted. He paused, then reluctantly added, "A-And make them more d-durable please…"

"Alrighty! Guess they won't get the Hatsume Mei special this time." With a few clicks, the printer set out to work. Izuku watched in awe as many small, metallic hands weaved threads into his shoes. Hatsume kept on adding materials and checking on the computer, making humming noises while doing so. After a moment, the printer shut down and Hatsume presented the finished product to him. "Ta-da! Your shoes with extra durability without a single change to their previous design! After all, a mark of a good Support Designer is to listen to their customer's request!"

"W-Wow…" Izuku took his shoes and turned them around. They felt a bit heavier than before, but he was sure he would get used to them by the end of the day. They looked exactly the same as before, save for a few metallic lines that ran around his soles. Izuku felt them and they let out a satisfying _Ting! _"T-This is amazing! Did y-you use c-carbon fiber strings to e-enhance them?"

"I'm surprised you noticed!" Hatsume said, laughing. Izuku smiled at her and checked his phone for the time. The blood drained from his face.

_I-I'm going to be late!_

Izuku hurriedly put on his shoes. "T-Thank you f-for fixing my shoes! I gotta go!"

"Pleasure to work with you…?" she trailed off, still smiling.

"M-Midoriya I-Izuku!" Izuku answered her before bolting off. Hatsume blinked before grinning eerily.

"Midoriya...Izuku. How interesting…"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Izuku had made it to class with five minutes to spare, much to his relief. Everyone had been given their assigned seats, ordered by their last name. Kendo waved to him from the front of the class, a greeting which he returned. He found himself sitting next to Monoma near the back of the class, who gave him a weird look.

"Are you still wearing that dunce belt?" Monoma asked when Izuku adjusted the item in question before sitting down. "You should take that off. Vlad-sensei won't even see us until homeroom tomorrow."

"Vlad-sensei g-gave it to m-me for a reason. I d-don't want to let him down even if he isn't here," Izuku responded.

"All right, settle down." Ectoplasm came out through the big door, prompting the whole class to let out a gasp in awe and Izuku to immediately take out his notebook and fanboy. "It's time for your Math class!"

_That's right! U.A. is different from other high schools because every teacher is going to be a Pro Hero!_

The rest of the morning went by quickly but contained enough excitement for Izuku because of his chance to finally meet all of his idols in person.

Ectoplasm cloned himself to give each student a one-on-one lesson, something that Izuku thought was extremely useful for a class as hard and difficult as Math.

Present Mic ended up teaching English next, a subject that Izuku already had a good amount of knowledge of due to listening to the English Channel reruns that had featured All Might back when he had been working in America. Present Mic spent the majority of the class trying to hype up the students or wake Tsunotori up to solve a question, to which she would humiliate him by answering perfectly and falling straight back into dreamland afterwards.

Biology and Modern Hero Art with Midnight were..._interesting. _Enough said.

Soon enough, lunchtime rolled around and everyone was looking forward to the class that made the Hero Course what it is: Foundational Hero Studies. The excitement only grew when they saw that All Might was scheduled to teach the class.

Izuku was walking back from the lunch line, an expression of pure bliss on his face as he was clutching his notebook tightly to his chest. Kendo waved over to him, saving a spot at a table. _I got Lunch Rush's autograph! It's official. I'm _never _letting anything happen to this notebook!_

"DEEKKUUUUU!"

And with that, Izuku's good mood died in a large explosion.

Izuku flinched as the explosion narrowly missed his shoulder. Kacchan grabbed Izuku's collar and pulled him close, forcing him to look into his smoldering eyes. Izuku dropped his notebook to the ground when he was lifted up in the air. Kacchan's hand started to smoke, singeing Izuku's uniform. "I thought I told you to never show your ugly mug around here, Deku!"

_I knew I would have to confront Kacchan when I attended...but I thought I could avoid him a bit longer!_

"K-Kacchan!" Izuku gripped Kacchan's arm, reminiscent of the time when he was pinned behind their middle school. That action seemed to only infuriate the other boy more. He was acutely aware that the whole lunch room was staring at the two of them and tried to break free from Kacchan's iron grip. "I-I thought I t-told you before-!?"

"That means shit to me!" Izuku could practically hear Kacchan's teeth grinding against each other. The familiar feeling of fear ran through Izuku and he braced himself. "How the hell did you cheat?!"

"H-Huh?"

"On the entrance exam! 'Own effort', my ass! There's no way a Quirkless runt like you can even pass, let alone get into the top ten! You bribed some bitch from the inside or something?! How. Did. You. Cheat!?"

Before Kacchan could do anything else, he was roughly shoved off of Izuku. He was about to yell before he got an explosion to his face. Izuku fell on his butt, wide-eyed at the whole spectacle.

"How about a taste of your own medicine?" Monoma said, his palm crackling, steel in his eyes. "I made sure it was extra bitter!"

"Are you alright, Midoriya-san?" Kendo rushed over to the scene and offered her hand to Izuku. He took it gratefully and stood up.

Kendo glared at Kacchan, who was dusting off his face and glared right back. "I feel like I'm asking that question a lot lately…"

"All of you, desist at once! Your actions are unbecoming of this fine establishment!"

Izuku paled and stared at a familiar tall boy with dark blue hair heading their way. _O-Oh god! It's the scary glasses guy! Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse!_

"Ah! It's you, Curly-kun!" Izuku saw that the nice girl from the exam had come over and glared at Kacchan. She was quivering, obviously scared by Kacchan's intimidating presence. "G-Geez, Bakugo-san! You shouldn't be mean like that!"

"Oi…" Small explosions popped off from Kacchan's hand. His face was murderous. "Get the fuck out of my way, you extras! I have business with that Quirkless runt!"

"Quirkless runt?" Glasses, as Izuku nicknamed him in his mind, repeated. He made some chopping hand motions towards Izuku. "Did you not hear about what he did during the entrance exam?"

"Shut up! He cheated is what he did!" Kacchan stomped towards them, prompting Kendo to push Izuku behind her and assume a defensive stance. Monoma stepped forward and the two stared at each other, both palms crackling threateningly. "I don't care if you can somehow use my Quirk. I'll still beat your punk ass out of here!"

"Try it. I dare you," Monoma taunted. Kendo put her hand on Monoma's shoulder. He looked over to her and she shook her head.

"I wouldn't fight if I were you, unless you want to get in trouble," she said to Kacchan. Kendo gestured over to the teachers that were guarding the exits. They were looking over at the group curiously. " And you'd still have all of us to deal with. Four versus one aren't good odds for you, I would say."

Kacchan looked murderous. He stared at all of them. They were standing in front of Izuku defensively, inadvertently forming a wall. "So you're going to hide behind these extras?! You're still fucking spineless as ever. Useless Deku!"

Izuku flinched as the familiar insult struck a chord within him. Monoma stood his ground. "Your insults won't work here, pal. I've dealt with people like you before so I know how you work."

"As if you're worth my time anyway," Kacchan scoffed and turned around, his hands in his pockets. "This isn't over, Deku! I'll find out how you cheated and put you in your rightful place!" The group relaxed when they saw Kacchan walk away.

"And one more thing." They tensed up when Kacchan stopped and looked over his shoulder. "That sash suits you, dumbass." He walked out of the lunchroom, ignoring the concerned looks the staff gave him as he passed by.

Izuku breathed out heavily, his cheeks red and shoulders hunched over. His face was sweaty and his uniform was practically drenched. He picked up his notebook and looked up in awe at the people who defended him.

_...Amazing. They're so amazing! They just drove Kacchan off like it was nothing! That's U.A. for you! _Izuku looked down at the burnt handprint on his uniform and clutched it. _I couldn't even do anything…_

"Sheesh, talk about an explosive personality. The hell is his problem?" Monoma asked, rubbing his hand. His palm was slightly red from constantly popping small explosions off. "You called him Bakugo? As in the guy who was first in the entrance exam? That must mean he's in the other hero class, 1-A. I swear, if all of them are like that…"

"We're not!" the nice girl protested. "Bakugo's the only one who's a little...unhinged."

"T-Thank you f-for helping me, M-Monoma-kun," Izuku said gratefully, still trembling slightly. Monoma raised an eyebrow at the suffix change but didn't say anything. He turned his head and scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Don't look too much into it," Monoma muttered. "I didn't do it for you. I just can't stand guys like him..."

Izuku tilted his head in confusion. He flinched when he heard Glasses talking loudly.

"I still can't understand how a person like him wants to be a hero!" Glasses said. "He acts more like a villain! And you!" Glasses walked up to Izuku, who flinched under his gaze. Monoma narrowed his eyes and stepped forward before he was stopped by Kendo, who put a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. Izuku covered his face instinctively when Glasses bowed towards him. "You figured out the true meaning of the entrance exam back then, didn't you? I have to say that you're a better person than me!"

_...Eh?_

Izuku peeked out of his fingers. "W-What do you mean?"

"Back at Battle Center B. You didn't even hesitate to save Uraraka-san from the Zero-Pointer!" The nice girl waved, a bright smile on her face. "Please accept my apology! My conduct towards you during the exam was unjustified!"

"N-No need t-to apologize! I-If anything, I n-need to apologize to y-you for disturbing you...uhh…"

"Iida Tenya! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"And I'm Uraraka Ochako! The girl you saved! I wanted to thank you for that, by the way," the girl said enthusiastically. She then made exaggerated punching motions with her arm. "That punch you did was amazing! That Zero-Pointer was completely blown away!"

"It was amazing," Kendo agreed. She turned to Izuku curiously. "Back to what happened just now. What did you do to Bakugo-san? And how do you know him in the first place?"

"I-I don't know what I ever did to him," Izuku answered sadly. "W-We are childhood f-friends from daycare. He j-just started acting like that a-after he got his Q-Quirk…"

"Friends!?" Kendo said incredulously, startling Izuku. She narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Midoriya-san, what Bakugo-san did to you clearly shows that the two of you aren't friends. At least, not anymore. He's your bully now, isn't he?"

"H-He's not so bad!" Izuku spoke up. He looked down, poking his index fingers together. "H-He's just really passionate about being a hero is all…"

"I'm still going to have to disagree with you," Kendo said adamantly. "Bakugo-san was being a bully. I'm not going to tolerate his behavior with you or anyone else. If he bullies you again, just tell me, alright?"

"But..." Izuku tried to argue before he was subjected to Kendo's stare. "F-Fine...b-but I still think you're blowing this out o-of proportion."

Kendo just sighed, exasperated. Uraraka smiled brightly. "Well, I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Deku-kun!"

Izuku stared at her for a moment. "D-Deku?" he questioned. Uraraka looked confused.

"That is your name, right? Midoriya Deku? I heard Bakugo call you that and Kendo called you by your family name, so I assumed…"

"M-My real name is M-Midoriya I-Izuku," Izuku corrected her. He looked down towards his feet again. "D-Deku is just what K-Kacchan likes to call m-me since it means 'useless'…"

"Uwaah! I'm sorry! I didn't know it was supposed to be an insult!" Uraraka bowed to him. She bounced back up. "Though, I still like how it sounds. Deku sounds like that word for 'you can do it!'"

Izuku turned into a tomato at the prospect of getting a nickname from a girl he just met. "HI, I'M DEKU!"

"Dude, seriously?" Monoma quirked an eyebrow up. Izuku buried his head in his hands, mumbling incoherently. "Didn't you just say it was an insult? Don't act so spineless and accept it like that."

"I think the word you are trying to say is 'Dekiru', Uraraka-san," Kendo informed her. "And I agree with Monoma-san. Please don't make Midoriya-san accept an insult that came from his bully."

"'Dekiru-kun' then!" Uraraka compromised.

"Alright." Kendo grinned at Izuku playfully. "I guess you'll be 'Dekiru-kun' from now on!"

"O-Ok…" Izuku accepted, his head steaming. In an effort to change the conversation and get rid of his embarrassment, he turned to the two 1-A students. "Would y-you like to join us for lunch?"

"Why not? The more the merrier!" Uraraka accepted cheerily.

Iida also agreed. "I would also like to talk about the entrance exam if you don't mind."

"Sounds like a great idea!" Kendo turned to Monoma. "Why don't you join us as well?"

"I'll pass. I'm fine where I am," Monoma said offhandedly. Kendo frowned and looked towards the table that Monoma had come from. It only had one tray on it.

"Looks like real fun over there," Kendo said sarcastically. Monoma sweated a bit as he tried to return Kendo's stare before sighing.

"Fine, I'll join," he conceded. Monoma picked up his tray and went over to their table. Izuku walked behind the group, stewing in his thoughts.

_I had to get saved from Kacchan… _Izuku clenched his fist and brought it up to his face. He sat down at the table where his new companions started discussing the entrance exam and what happened during it. _I need to get stronger...so that I can fight my own battles myself. I can't keep on bothering everyone around me because of my broken Quirk and circumstances. I _have _to get stronger…_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Lunch had ended and Class 1-B was in anticipation and excitement. In just a few minutes, Foundational Hero Studies would start and they would finally get a chance to feel like real heroes. Not to mention that All Might would be teaching the class and some of them would be getting the chance to meet the inspiring man in person for the first time.

"Dude, how can you not be excited?!" Tetsutetsu shouted at Kaibara, adding on to the noise of the classroom. "We'll finally get our chance to become heroes! Not to mention All Might is coming and we get to use our Quirks!"

"I am looking forward to this," Kaibara said calmly. "I just prefer not to scream it out."

"I hope we don't have to fight anyone," Bondo said, worried. "I mostly just want to do rescue trials."

"But that takes the fun out of it!" Tsuburaba countered, grinning. He sat across from Izuku and turned his chair around to get a better look at Bondo. "I mean, who _hasn't _thought about fighting each other with our Quirks to see who's stronger? It's like Smash Bros. but in real life!"

"Speaking of using Quirks, are you alright, Midoriya?" Tokage asked. Izuku perked up at her question. "It's just that...we all saw what happened in the lunchroom and…"

The class went silent and cringed when they were reminded of the event. Nobody had bothered to go and help Izuku apart from Kendo and Monoma.

"Bakugo Katsuki," Kodai suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at her. "The person who got first place in the exam. I was in his Battle Center and his Quirk is a sight to behold. But his personality needs a lot of work." She turned the Izuku stoically. "Will he be a problem?"

"N-Not at all, Kodai-san!" Izuku said , waving his hands frantically.

"Don't dumb it down, Midoriya-san," Monoma said harshly. Izuku was startled at the amount of anger Monoma was showing. He was grinding his teeth hard. "That guy's a jerk, plain and simple. How he went through his psychological exam completely unscathed is a wonder to me!"

_Monoma-kun... _Izuku saw how Monoma was breathing heavily. He didn't show this much aggression when he was dealing with Kacchan.

"Why didn't you use your Quirk on him, then?" Tetsutetsu asked Izuku. "You could've sent him flying with that kind of power!"

"More like he'll fucking splatter his guts altogether," Awase said, turning to face the back of the class. "I don't think that shit would fly with the teachers."

_Everyone thinks I'm so strong... _Izuku looked around, surprised. He reaffirmed his determination back from lunch. _I may not be strong now, but I will meet their expectations. I'm different now! I won't hide behind people like before!_

"He went straight to you as soon as he saw you?" Yanagi asked, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. When Izuku nodded, Yanagi put her fist in her palm. "Then maybe...he has a crush on you?"

Izuku blinked. He vaguely imagined a scenario where Kacchan gave him flowers, red-faced and embarrassed, before blowing him up in tsundere fashion. His stomach turned at the prospect. "P-Please don't joke like that..."

"ALRIGHT, BE QUIET EVERYONE!" The class flinched collectively at the familiar voice. They all stared at Vlad King, who stood behind the podium. He grinned at their shocked expressions. He looked at Midoriya and gave him a thumbs up. "Good to see that you are still wearing the Probation Sash, Midoriya."

"W-What are you doing here, Vlad-sensei?" Vlad King looked at Tokage curiously.

"I'm here to teach Foundational Hero Studies," Vlad King answered. "That is what your afternoon classes entail, right?"

"EEHHHH?!"

"But it says on our schedule that All Might is teaching this class!"

"Schedule?" Kendo handed over her schedule to Vlad King. He took a look at it before realization filled his face. He tore the paper in half, shocking the class again. "Oh, right. I forgot to tell you that I convinced All Might to teach 1-A first. You'll get him tomorrow. For now though…" He slammed his palms on his desk. "You'll be dealing with me! On alternating days, unfortunately."

_All Might's not coming? _Izuku thought sadly. _I really wanted to see him though…_

"This is going to suck," Tsuburaba said. "This is absolutely going to suck. We're all so screwed!"

"You're overreacting." Awase tried to calm Tsuburaba down. "It's still Foundational Hero Studies in the end! It'll be fun!"

"Vlad King's a hero too," Yanagi pointed out, agreeing with Awase. "Maybe it won't be...so bad?"

"Still excited, huh?" Vlad King asked. The whole room gulped in fear as Vlad King gave them all a predatory grin. "Looks like I need to fix that…"

"We're _so_ screwed," Tsuburaba repeated.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"We're so screwed…"

"This isn't what I signed up for! Oh, the pain…"

"Oh God, please help us all!"

"Don't use the Lord's name in vain!"

The class trailed along behind Vlad King as they jogged around the entire U.A. campus. They were all in their gym clothes, most of which were already completely drenched in sweat. Everyone was groaning and a few clutched their stomachs in pain.

Tsuburaba puffed tiredly, trying to keep up with Izuku and Kendo. "Holy shit...how are you guys doing this? My legs are killing me…"

"I-I did t-this sort of t-thing before I came here," Izuku answered awkwardly. His face had a healthy red flush and he looked no worse for wear. Kendo jogged beside him, looking a bit tired. A few others, like Tokage, Bondo, and Tetsutetsu were just behind them. _Looks like the ten months of hell helped with something at least._

"Kamakiri's totally in his element,." Tsuburaba said. They looked forward and saw Kamakiri jogging right beside Vlad King. The two looked perfectly fine and were engaged in a conversation with each other. "Now that I think about it...where's Shoda?"

They looked back to see Shoda at the very back behind Komori and Monoma. He was breathing deeply as he took heavy steps, falling behind even further by the second. He collapsed a few times but got right back up afterwards. Izuku had to give Shoda credit for his determination.

"We've already got stragglers? This is the Hero Course! You all should be able to do this perfectly fine!" Vlad King yelled back at them. "This is what we'll be doing from now on! To be a hero, you must have a fit body to fulfill your maximum potential! Only then you can handle what Foundational Hero Studies truly have to offer you!" The class groaned in response. "Is that defiance I hear?! Exercise is the foundation of becoming a pro hero! With me, you'll cry and bleed. Your body will break, but it will make you stronger in the end!"

"Such inspiration," Tokage said sarcastically. She caught up to Izuku and Kendo, looking as tired as the rest of them.

"This should be enough for your warm up! Let's get on to the real exercise now!"

"W-Warm up?" Tsuburaba whimpered pathetically.

* * *

**Who's that sneaky figure frolicking near U.A.? You all already know but I'm still not going to say for the sake of being an asshole author. All I wanted to say for that is that this will be part of the butterfly effect that I promised you.**

**Whew! This certainly took a while! Sorry for the late update guys. School and real life got to me. Its even more stressfull since I'm going to be going to college soon so the preparation for that got in the way.**

**The very first thing I want to address is for those that like to reread chapters. As I'm sure you've noticed a while ago, they are somewhat different than the first version. That's because I was fixing up a few things like grammar errors and stylistic choices I made. I got rid of All Might's bolded wording because a reviewer by the name of RD1042(btw thanks so much for showing me errors and giving constructive criticism. It really helps me a lot! :D) pointed out that it was unnecessary and I frankly agree. It looked tacky and extra so I changed it to regular text. Another thing he pointed out was Izuku's OOC thoughts, which I also agree with. I have a nasty habit of writing my own thoughts at the time into the character while I'm writing and I don't notice until I reread and think "shit its really bad" so yeah. Other than that, I corrected punctuation and grammar issues in the previous chapters. If there are still any, PM me or review. It would help a lot.**

**As for this chapter, its mainly how Izuku's first day goes and what he and the rest of class would be doing with Vlad King for alternating days in their schedule, which is ridiculously harsh training. I did model him after a military instructor after all. That cafeteria scene took a while for me though. I had to rewrite it four times because how it flowed like shit the first three. I think I managed to get it right without looking like shit but let me know If anything transitions or sounds odd to you.**

**Another thing I want to address is for those who want to see more of the other 1-B characters, you will get them. These first few chapters will still be in Izuku's perspective because I want to establish a foundation for this story before delving into the other's personas. So yeah, we will see other perspectives in this story!**

**Which also brings me to my other point in that for those that are worried I am bashing Bakugo in this chapter, I'm not doing it because I hate him. In fact, Bakugo is one of my favorite characters so he will be getting development too. Its just that he doesn't have a good presence with everyone right now like in the anime and manga, but that will change. I'm also giving Bakugo an arguably better reason to hate Izuku other than "he's a fucking pebble" and an actual reason for his motivation of wanting to be number one that I hope will add depth to his character.**

**That's it for now. The support for this story has been crazy. As of right now, I'm at 110 favorites, 165 follows, and 2,579 views. Again, thank you so much for all of this. If you see anything wrong, PM me or review, I'm fine with either. I'll see you next chapter.**


	4. The Battle Trials

Izuku was listening intently to Uraraka and Iida as they told about their first class with All Might. They were in lunch again, the first half of the day going by in a blur. They sat in the same table as yesterday and Izuku was surprised when he found the 1-A students sitting in their spots, presumably waiting for them.

Iida, Izuku found, wasn't as scary as he thought from their first meeting with each other. He was just really diligent while carrying himself with strict regulation and morals. He was also very knowledgeable on the subject of hero agencies and how they worked, answering many of Izuku's questions when Iida first revealed that fact. His movements did seem robotic at times, but Izuku didn't mind. Izuku knew that he was weird enough already to comment on other people's habits.

In contrast to Iida, Uraraka was really cheerful and optimistic. From Izuku's short time with her, he noticed that she talked with a sort of bounce that always made even the most mundane of topics seem interesting. And while she wasn't talking, she still always had a smile on her face.

Even when she currently had a black eye with a bandage on her cheek.

"Battle Trials?" Kendo questioned, furrowing her brow. She had her hands folded in front of her, a perplexed expression on her face. She looked pointedly at Uraraka's injuries. "Sounds dangerous."

"No one got as badly hurt as us…" Uraraka said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "But Bakugo doesn't hold back at all! He gave me a full haymaker even though I'm a girl!"

"Real villains won't hold back, Uraraka-san!" Iida reminded her, also sporting bandages that were wrapped around his head. He made a few chopping motions with his hands. "Bakugo-san acted like a true villain, ironically when we are in a school for heroics. I only wish he didn't have to bring down the whole building with his Quirk!"

"A whole building?!" The 1-B students said in disbelief. They all looked over to where Kacchan sat. He was next to a red-haired person on a separate table, blissfully ignorant of their stares.

"Yeah, he created this huge explosion!" Uraraka reaffirmed, raising her arms for more emphasis. "He took out the whole wall of the building and it collapsed right on top of us! It was so scary!"

"Luckily, All Might rescued us before anyone got any major injuries and Recovery Girl left the minor wounds alone," Iida said to assuage their worried looks. "Bakugo-san and I got disqualified, understandably. But it is still frustrating for me to lose in this way!"

_That sounds like Kacchan, alright, _Izuku thought with a sweatdrop. He looked back at Kacchan with a puzzled expression. _Still, I know firsthand that his explosions aren't that powerful. Uraraka said they were allowed to use their costumes and support gear for this lesson. Did his costume enhance them somehow?_

"Seriously?" Monoma said. He laid back into his seat, groaning and massaging his legs and arms. He tried to sit by himself again when lunch started, but Kendo wasn't having any of that. She quickly dragged him back over with little protest since Monoma knew it was futile to argue with her. "Damn, it sounds like you all actually did something exciting. All we got was harsh training from Vlad-sensei. My arms and legs still hurt…"

"W-Well, we have All Might n-next so we'll probably have to d-do the same thing?" Izuku said though he wasn't really too sure himself. Despite asking All Might in their usual spot at Dagobah beach in the morning, he wasn't able to get anything out of the man when he asked about today's lesson. All Might had only just winked at him and said it would be a "surprise".

"I agree with Dekiru-kun. That would most likely be the case," Kendo said, making Izuku turn red. Both Uraraka and Kendo made good on their decision to call him by that nickname. Though, Kendo still addressed him formally when they were around their other classmates. She patted Monoma on the back, who gave her an unamused look in response. "So cheer up and stop acting so gloomy. "

"Riiiiggghht," Monoma drawled, straightening up and finishing his food.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Lunch passed by with nothing notable happening, unlike yesterday. Everyone was once again abuzz in excitement at what they would learn in an _actual_ class of Foundational Hero Studies.

"Hell yeah!" Tetsutetsu shouted, putting one foot on his desk and chair to elevate himself. "_Now _we'll finally be like heroes! Who else is pumped!?"

The class sweatdropped at his enthusiasm, which was completely identical to yesterday. Tokage and Tsunotori scooted away from him while he was shouting.

"I'm scared, guys," Bondo said to the classmates that sat in his row. "I could barely do anything yesterday after I got back home. If today's lesson was anything like yesterday…"

"I don't...think so," Yanagi said in her bored tone. She was slumped on her desk, looking up at the ceiling aimlessly. She looked absolutely dead on the inside. "All Might is different from Vlad-sensei, I hope. I...don't think I can survive another training session like that."

"I never met All Might personally so I can't really say anything," Rin said, giving his own input into the matter. "Training is good and all, but we need actual lessons in order to learn. Like, about hostage situations and stuff. Being strong can only get us so far without the knowledge to put that strength to use."

"H-He will teach us something! I'm sure of it!" Izuku said with conviction, remembering the ten months of hell. Training wasn't the only thing that All Might went over with him. Izuku thought he knew about heroes, but training with the absolute pinnacle of heroism gave him many different perspectives about the subject matter. He took some of All Might's convictions as his own and so he was excited to see what he would learn from him next.

"You sound really sure about that," Monoma said, narrowing his eyes. Izuku started sweating under his gaze.

"H-He is the S-Symbol of Peace. H-He had to have l-learned something to become that," Izuku defended himself. He poked his fingers together and looked back down at his desk. "A-And I really admire him too…"

"I guess you have a point there," Monoma muttered, prompting Izuku to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"I don't care as long as we don't do that training from yesterday," Tsuburaba groaned, turning his chair around to face the back row. He winced when his back cracked a bit. "My whole body still aches from that. We better do something fun this time!"

Before anyone can do anything else, the door slammed open. The class immediately went quiet. The door closed to reveal…

Vlad King, walking to the front of the class. He gave them all a shit-eating grin when he saw their horrified looks. "Hello, maggots!"

Tetsutetsu fell off of his desk. The class erupted into pandemonium.

"NAAAAAANNNNNIIIIIII?!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"OH FUCK WHY!?"

"He's trolling us. He's got to be trolling us," Tsuburaba whimpered, rocking back and forth in his chair, sucking his thumb all the while.

"No, Yanagi-san!" Bondo tried to shake an unconscious Yanagi awake, who looked like her soul was coming from her mouth. "Come back to us!"

Kamakiri just sat through the chaos, gritting his teeth with a tick mark on his head.

The door slammed open once more. "I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A- WHAT THE HECK?!"

All Might burst into the room only to see the sorry state Class 1-B was in. The students took one good look at All Might before bursting into tears.

"ALL MIGHT! YOU'RE HERE!"

"T-THAT'S RIGHT! EVERYTHING IS FINE NOW SINCE I AM HERE!" All Might said his signature phrase with enthusiasm, sweatdropping at the scene. He looked at Vlad King, who still wore his shit-eating grin. _It's only the second day and they're like this already!? What the hell did you do to them?!"_

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS!" Vlad King barked. The whole class became silent at once. Everyone scrambled to their seats in an instant and gave Vlad King their full attention. All Might looked impressed. "Now, I came here to warn you! I don't want any of you giving All Might-sensei any trouble, ya hear me?! And trust me, I'll know!"

"YES, VLAD-SENSEI!"

"Good! I'll be taking my leave now!" The class face faulted at this. He scared them half to death just to give them a warning?! "All Might, send me the video recordings for this lesson later. I'm going to need to know how well they did to grade them properly."

The class collectively flinched when Vlad King directed his burning gaze to them. He looked at Izuku in particular. "And to determine who here will be taking the Probation Sash home this time."

_T-That's right! _Izuku clutched the red sash and returned Vlad King's gaze with his own determined one, making Vlad King blink in response. _This is my chance to prove myself again. I'll show you this time, Vlad-sensei! _

"I'll make sure to do so," All Might said. Vlad King nodded and walked out without saying anything else. All Might turned back to the class. "Now that we got that out of the way, allow me to introduce you to Foundational Hero Studies! As most of you already know, I am All Might and I will be your teacher for the foreseeable future! You may address me as All Might-sensei! Got that?!"

He got a collective and enthusiastic "Yes, All Might-sensei!" at that. Most of the class gushed in their seat, including Izuku, at the Number One's words.

"So cool! He's so much more awesome in real life than on TV!"

"He's a lot bigger than I thought he would be…"

"That's his Silver Age costume!" Izuku whispered, bouncing in his seat. He didn't notice it before when Vlad King had the whole class' attention. Now that his attention was on All Might, he appreciated the outfit for what it is and represented for. "How retro!"

"Guess you weren't kidding about the fanboy part," Monoma whispered to him with a smirk, making him turn into a tomato.

"Let us begin our lesson with this! We'll be conducting trials of battle now!" All Might said. Izuku saw Kendo turn around and give him a discreet smile. It seemed they were right about how All Might would give them the same lesson as Class 1-A. "But I think you all are missing something. Can anyone guess what that is?" He got a bunch of tilted heads in response. "Why, it is the fundamental item any hero needs: your Hero Costumes!"

Everyone's faces lit up at that. They heard a whirring noise and looked to the side to see hidden compartments coming out of the wall, containing briefcases with bolded numbers on them. Izuku recognized his number as 16.

"Grab your suitcases, change in the locker rooms, and meet me at Ground Beta!" All Might ordered and gave them a thumbs up. "It's time for you all to become heroes!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

They all arrived at Ground Beta and went into the changing room there. Like the rest of the boys, Izuku stripped down to his boxers and opened his costume case. He picked up his green tracksuit and frowned. It was wrinkled as if someone had touched it. He clearly remembered that his mom ironed it out before gifting it to him. He shrugged his shoulders. _I'm probably overthinking it…_

He put on the tracksuit and strapped his elbow and knee pads to their respective places. He also put on his enhanced red shoes, feeling the metallic lining to make sure it wasn't peeling off already. He pulled over his mask and inspected himself in the large mirror at the front of the room. There seemed to be more emphasis on the white design on his tracksuit and his mask had the two long stalks standing tall on his head in a homage to All Might. He looked around and noticed that everyone had already left. _Everything looks in place. I should get going now. _

Izuku walked out of the building to see the same ruined structure back on that fated day, all cleaned up and ready for their use. This time, he was in his hero costume and ready to learn. He saw the entirety of class 1-B gathered in a large group in front of All Might. They were all in their hero costumes as well. There was a myriad of different styles and gear that Izuku wanted to analyze, but he got interrupted when Kendo walked up to him. He took one good look at Kendo's costume before his eyes bugged out and his head went up in flames.

Kendo was in a sort of blue sleeveless robe that hugged her figure nicely and emphasized her *ahem* _assets_. It had gold highlights running along the arm openings and collar. On top of that, she wore a black domino mask that was tied to the back of her head with the remaining strands lying on her neck. She wore a loosely tied belt on her waist with a satchel attached to the back. Following the belt, Izuku could also see that she wore some black spats through the leg splits of the robe- _I-Ishouldprobablynotlookthere!- _with a pair of white-heeled navy boots. In conclusion, her costume gave off a very martial arts sort of vibe.

"Like what you see?" Kendo asked with a teasing smile, looking him up and down, which made Izuku even more embarrassed. "I'm just messing with you. Your costume looks really practical! Those mask extensions though…" She looked up at Izuku's mask stalks and back at All Might's hair. "Are they supposed to look like All Might's hair?"

"Yeah," Izuku admitted, looking down at the ground sheepishly. "I w-wanted to pay homage to him in s-some way." _Not to mention I've got his Quirk too…_

"By imitating All Might's hair?" Monoma asked, walking over to them. He was dressed in a baggy black long-sleeved shirt with matching pants. He wore a white belt with two yellow watches hooked on the side. He had on a pair of simple white tennis shoes. "I'm pretty sure there are better aspects to copy, like his color scheme or something. And believe me, I know _all _about copying stuff."

"Yeah, but at least Midoriya-san has some design on his. What is your costume supposed to do?" Monoma looked down at his costume and sighed.

"It's not like I had a choice, let me tell you. I asked the Support Course to make a costume that can accommodate all sorts of Quirks, but they couldn't do it." Monoma clenched his hands tightly. "Honestly, it's like I roll the lottery every time I go into battle. I don't know what Quirk I'll work with or if it will be even effective against my opponent since most people are resistant to their own Quirk. And the Quirk usually tears through my costume since it can't accommodate for all the effects of whatever Quirk I get. The only thing I could think of to help me is the stopwatches since I have a time limit for each Quirk I copy."

"B-But your Quirk is still amazing!" Izuku blurted out. There seemed to be much more to it than what Monoma told them, but Izuku still wasn't having any of that Quirk hating nonsense. "Your Quirk can be used for many situations! You can be useful in every rescue by copying a rescue hero's Quirk! And when you copy a person's Quirk, you'll gain resistance to their Quirk as well, which can turn the tide in some battles if you can stall for time or backup! And…" he faltered when he saw Monoma looking at him weirdly. "Um…"

"I...wasn't really trying to self-deprecate myself. I was just stating obvious flaws about my Quirk, like all Quirks have," Monoma stated, making Izuku feel even more awkward. Monoma turned around, his back to Izuku and his hands in his pockets, and walked towards the crowd. "Still though, thanks for the vote of confidence."

Izuku frowned as he saw Monoma walk towards the crowd. "I-I guess I read too much into it…"

"I don't think so," Kendo said, also looking towards Monoma with a pensive expression. She turned to Izuku with a smile. "I think he really appreciated what you said."

Before Izuku could ask what she meant by that, they all heard a loud _TWEEET! _and redirected their attention to All Might, who had a whistle in his mouth.

"All right, come over here, everyone! Let me take you to where we will be conducting the exercise!" The group of students crowded around All Might. All Might led them through the cityscape. Izuku saw a completely collapsed building with debris that partially covered the road, which the students navigated around. _That must be where Kacchan had his battle trial. I guess Uraraka and Iida weren't exaggerating after all..._

They stopped when they were in front of an intact building. All Might's tall frame towered over them and he looked down towards all of the students. "Before we begin, I must say that you're all looking good! You all definitely have the look of heroes! Now then, onto our lesson for today: the Indoor Battle Trials!"

Tsuburaba and Tetsutetsu practically squealed, stars in their eyes. Most of Class 1-B cheered while some others looked confused. Honenuki raised his hand. "Yes, Young Honenuki?"

"Why indoor battles specifically, All Might-Sensei?" All Might nodded his head, his fingers on his chin.

"Excellent question! The majority of you may have seen many villains fighting out in the open with heroes. Most likely from your TV's, am I right?" He got a bunch of nods at that. "Well, while fighting fodder villains in public like that is common, the masterminds have lairs built specifically to defeat heroes! Or the truly villainous would use the people in public buildings as hostages! This lesson is designed to teach you to restrain yourself inside of a building while still completing your objective!"

Honenuki nodded at that, satisfied. All Might turned to the rest of the students. "All right, here is the scenario! There is a bomb inside of an empty civilian building that the heroes must secure. The chosen villains will be tasked to stop the heroes either with exceeding the time limit given to you or capturing the heroes with this capture tape!" All Might pulled out a few rolls of tape to show them. "The heroes will also have the ability to capture the villains with this tape as well. You must completely encircle the villain or hero with the tape in order for it to count as a capture. Afterward, the captured target must leave the building immediately. Understand?" He got another round of nods. He pulled out a box from...somewhere. "Now you will divide up into pairs by drawing lots! After all, you might be randomly matched up with a completely unknown hero when on the field and will have to accommodate that. Once everyone gets their letter, find your partner who also has the matching letter!"

_That makes sense, making it a random assortment. _Izuku thought, lining up to get his letter. He reached his hand into the box, sifting through the paper slips for a moment, and grabbed a slip. It was an E. _I wonder who my partner is. I hope I can work with them…_

As if the gods themselves wanted to solve his predicament, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Kendo waving an E also. Any anxiety that started to build up within him disappeared immediately. "Looks like we're partners, Midoriya-san."

"Y-Yeah! P-Please take care of me," Izuku said, bowing down to her.

"Same here." Kendo bowed down back to him. Izuku looked up and chuckled a bit. He was immensely grateful and happy that he would work with someone he was somewhat comfortable with. And her Quirk was something he could work with too. He looked around and saw that everyone else was pairing up as well.

"Now that we got that out of the way, now is the time to see which one of you will be heroes and villains!" All Might ruffled through his loot box and picked out the slips, reading out each matchup.

"Hero Team C: Shihai Kuroiro and Tsuburaba Kosei vs Villain Team A: Shiozaki Ibara and Kinoko Komori!"

"Hero Team J: Tsunotori Pony and Shishida Jurota vs Villain Team B: Awase Yosetsu and Shoda Nirengeki!"

"Hero Team G: Yanagi Reiko and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs Villain Team F: Monoma Neito and Tokage Setsuna!"

Hero Team I: Honenuki Juzo and Kaibara Sen vs Villain Team H: Kodai Yui and Bondo Kojiro!"

Hero Team E: Midoriya Izuku and Kendo Itsuka vs Villain Team D: Kamakiri Togaru and Hiryu Rin!"

"Those will be the matchups in their respective order," All Might said. "You'll each have five minutes to plan or lay traps in the villain's case before having 15 minutes to complete your goals. Don't worry about holding back since I will stop the exercise if anyone takes it too far! Getting bruised or shedding a little blood is all part of the risk of being a hero, after all." He gave the class a thumbs up. "Now then, the first group should get ready right now! The rest of us will be overseeing your process in the observation room. Good luck and may the better team win!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

_All right, boys. Things are about to be epic!_

Kosei inspected the fake bomb all the while he was grinning like a loon. He was in his hero costume, which consisted of a light colored jacket with baggy pants. He had a gas mask hanging limply over his chest which had a tube that was connected to a compact oxygen tank connected to his belt. His Quirk relied on the air that was in his lungs, after all. He might need a quick pick-me-up in order to get going or to filter out whatever foreign gases the enemy might throw at him.

Describing Kosei's feelings as excitement was a complete understatement. He was absolutely ecstatic. He was in the hero course and now he was going to duke it out with his classmates using his Quirk. It's a literal dream come true. What kind of self-respecting teenage male _didn't _want to beat each other up with superpowers anyway? He knew Tetsutetsu would agree with him. The guy was an absolute bro.

"Is this made out of paper mache?" Kosei asked, poking the fake bomb. His finger made a dent within the bomb. "Oh shit!"

"Stop messing around and let's concentrate. We have five minutes to scheme our way into victory," Kuroiro said, looking out the window in an angle and watching the two heroes collaborate with each other. Kuroiro was wearing a simple black jumpsuit. It didn't seem like there was anything else worth noting about his costume. Tsuburaba looked at him weirdly. Had he misheard that?

"Scheme?"

"Plan," Kuroiro corrected absentmindedly, waving Kosei off.

"No, I'm pretty sure I heard you say-" Kosei stopped and shook his head. Now was not the time to focus on that. "Never mind. You got any ideas on how to take them down? I'm...sort of a dumbass when it comes to these sort of things…"

Yeah, coming with plans was not Kosei's forte. Luckily for him, it seemed that was just right up Kuroiro's alley.

"Hmm…" Kuroiro paced around, his hand on his chin. "I don't know much about Shiozaki-san...but I do know that Kinoko would rather find the bomb and face us directly, despite her Quirk being long range. We'll have to be careful of her. Once her spores land on us, we're basically screwed at that point."

"How do you know that? You know her from before or something?" Kuroiro looked to the side.

"You could...say that." Kosei tilted his head at that. Kuroiro glared over at him. "Oi, stop staring at me like that. A lackey like you doesn't get to ask the questions around here."

"L-Lackey?! Why am I the lackey?!"

"Cuz I'm the one with the sche- plan here," Kuroiro said with a smirk. "Now then, you're the best counter for Komori. Your air can stop the spores from advancing further or disperse them altogether. Meanwhile, I'll be the one to surprise them with my Quirk."

"Your Quirk is merging with black things, right? How is that going to help us?"

"I thought I said you aren't allowed to ask questions, _lackey," _Kuroiro said. It seemed that he was truly embracing the villainous mindset. He then grinned eerily, making Kosei's spine shiver. "But I'll humor you this time. Listen closely. Here's what we're going to do."

Tsuburaba frowned at first at Kuroiro's plan, but then he started grinning when he thought about it a bit more. "Alright then, Big Boss_. _That's something I can do!" If Tsuburaba was going to be a villain, then he might as well act along as well.

"I also have something for you. Maybe you would like it. It'll help with acting more like a villain, I guess," Kuroiro rummaged through his pockets and presented the item. Tsuburaba grinned even more.

"The five minutes are over. Prepare to start the exercise!" All Might's voice rang over from the speakers.

"Let's go," Kuroiro said simply before he melted with the darkness.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

The rest of the class was in the dark and dank observation room. The only light that was provided for them came off from the many monitors that littered on the front wall of the room, each detailing a separate room or hallway. Unfortunately, there was no audio for them to hear with so they couldn't tell what both teams would do to win. But that wasn't stopping Setsuna from trying to figure it out herself. She wouldn't just stand there like the rest of their classmates and watch as it played out.

_Let's see here…_ Setsuna thought to herself. _I don't know much about their personalities to gauge how they would react. Still, the hero team has a better chance because of their powerful Quirks by default. Admittedly, I don't know how Kinoko's Quirk works but I still think it is pretty viable when used in tandem with Shiozaki. I think Tsuburaba's Quirk would break under the pressure of Shiozaki's vines and I can't see how Kuroiro's Quirk would be of any use here and...hm?  
_

Her thoughts were interrupted by some frantic mumbling. She looked towards her side and saw Midoriya deep in thought, mumbling like there was no tomorrow and scribbling rapidly in that burnt notebook of his. _There has to be some story behind that…and what's he muttering about this time?_

She decided to be direct. "Yo, Midoriya! What are you talking to yourself for? I can't even hear myself think!"

Midoriya practically jumped and turned towards her, quivering. "I-I'm sorry, T-Tokage-san! I-I was just-"

"Dude, chill out. I'm not mad," Setsuna said, waving her arms in a placating manner. "I just wanted to know what's got you in such a fuss?"

"I-I w-was just trying to figure out how each team would use their Quirks to win is all…" Midoriya said, poking his fingers together.

Oh? Now wasn't _that _just interesting? "You too? Who do you think will win?"

"The villain team," Midoriya said. Setsuna was taken aback. That wasn't what she was expecting. She was _really _curious now.

"You don't think the hero team will win?"

"W-Well, its t-true that Shiozaki-san and K-Kinoko-san have Quirks that are good for long-range. In addition, they have excellent Quirk synergy with each other since they both have nature-based Quirks, so they can maybe do dual attacks with mushrooms on Shiozaki-san's vines or something like that." Midoriya said. Setsuna nodded at that. That was what she thought too. "But the real reason why I think they won't do well is because of the environment they are in."

Setsuna blinked at that. She looked at the monitors. "You mean the fact that this is taking place within a building?"

Midoriya was apparently getting more confident now. His stutter was practically gone at this point and he was slowly gathering an audience, whether he realized it or not. "That's right. They have good long-range Quirks, but the hallways are too narrow for them to do anything significant or they will risk structural damage. Kinoko-san's Quirk comes from the spores she emits so Tsuburaba-san can stop them with his air wall, and I think his gas mask can filter air so that his lungs wouldn't carry any foreign substances so her spores can't get through there. And Shiozaki-san tends to spread out her vines so the narrow hallways will-"

"Wait! Hold on!" Setsuna's head was practically spinning. She did _not _expect that information dump from Midoriya, especially on the specific details on their Quirks. How does he even _know _that anyway? It's only the second day and none of them even explained in depth how their Quirk works. "How do you know that Kinoko produces mushrooms through spores? And about Tsuburaba using his Quirk with his lungs? And how Shiozaki's uses of her vines?!"

"Back on the obstacle course, Kinoko-san was in the lane next to me and I noticed some sort of powdery substance in the air before her mushrooms grew, so I thought that spores might be the only answer since that is how mushrooms reproduce." Midoriya was on a roll now and everyone was paying close attention to him, including All Might. "As for Tsuburaba-san, I noticed how he took a deep breath whenever he blew out another air platform, meaning he might use his lungs to form solid shapes. For Shiozaki-san, I noticed how she usually spreads out her vines and uses them one at a time rather than simultaneously, presumably so that her vines don't get tangled or in the way of each other."

_He got all of that from the obstacle course alone?! _Setsuna looked at Midoriya in shock.

"Then there's taking Kuroiro-san's Quirk into account," Midoriya continued. Setsuna's brain nearly short-circuited. He _still _wasn't done? "The lighting inside the buildings are mostly faulty, making certain corridors completely dark. Kuroiro-san's Quirk is to merge with all things black so…"

"A dark corridor would be completely perfect for him," Setsuna murmured, finishing Midoriya's sentence.

"Excellent analysis, Young Midoriya!" All Might boomed, making him jump. He seemed to realize that everyone was crowding around him and curled in on himself. "You made many valid points with this situation! Is there anything else you wanted to say?"

"W-Well, all of what I said c-can be circumvented if they fight in an open room," Midoriya said, turning away from Setsuna, who was currently spazzing at the moment. "T-Then it would be an advantage for the heroes, I-I think…"

"Damn, dude. Did you think of that just now?" Tetsutetsu asked.

"N-No. Just s-since the matchups were made."

"Seriously?! In that short time!?" Shoda said.

"I know, it's kinda weird..." Midoriya answered modestly, ducking his head.

"No, it's not. That kind of quick thinking can actually save lives in this profession, you know," Kendo said. "You said that this was sort of your hobby before, right? You should take pride in that."

"A hobby?" Awase shook his head. "Nah man, that was some enthusiast level shit right there. It's awesome is what it is!"

"Still though, anything can happen in these matches. We'll see how accurate your predictions are since something different can happen," Honenuki said and they all turned towards the monitor again.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

If Komori was being honest right now, she was incredibly nervous. This was her first exercise in U.A. and not only was it being graded, but everyone was watching her as well. And three other people but she concentrated on the "her" part. She felt lucky that she was playing as a hero. She didn't think she would make a good villain.

Komori's hero costume consisted of a turtleneck dress with a red and white polka dot pattern. She had a mushroom-shaped hat and pink boots with frills that had the same pattern. She was thinking of the fly agaric mushroom when designing the costume since that was her favorite mushroom.

Shiozaki looked all around her sides cautiously. Her hero costume consisted of a white robe with black knee-high boots. Her vines moved around the two heroes, almost encircling them in a protective cocoon.

"W-Watch out for t-the corners," Kinoko stuttered behind her. "Kuroiro-kun could be hiding in them."

"His Quirk can allow him to hide in the shadows?" Shiozaki asked. She glared at the dark spots in the hallway. "What an unholy power…"

"I-It isn't unholy!" Kinoko protested, glaring at Ibara. "Kuroiro-kun isn't a bad person…"

"My apologies," Shiozaki said, though it didn't sound like she really meant it. "You sound like you know him."

Kinoko knew of him, but she didn't _know _him. Though she would really like to, considering he...

She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking about that. "He's from my middle school, though I wouldn't really call us friends," Kinoko answered, poking her fingers together. "It's...kind of compli-"

"Shh," Shiozaki whispered. Kinoko froze and strained her ears. Footsteps. "Ready your Quirk. You remember the plan, right?"

Kinoko nodded and flexed her arms, the spores just barely emerging from her skin. The footsteps grew louder and a shadow loomed out from a corner.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the heroes, coming to save the day!" A nasal voice said in what Kinoko could only describe as a lame gangster accent. Tsuburaba stood in front of the both of them, hands crossed, smirking, and wearing what was probably the douchebaggiest fake mustache Kinoko had ever seen in her life. _Where did he even get that?_

Shiozaki lowered her vines in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"The Big Boss is guarding the bomb right now and he sent me to deal with ya," Tsuburaba said in his accent, ignoring her. He took a deep breath. "So I can't let you leave here alive, heroes!

Shiozaki wasted no time and sent a vine flying towards him. "Cut off his escape, Kinoko-san!"

"Right!" Kinoko sent her spores alongside Shiozaki's vine. The vine banged against an invisible wall and Kinoko's spores were stopped.

Tsuburaba backpedaled near the stairs. "Don't think you'll beat me that easily!"

Shiozaki sent the same vine with more force and shattered the air wall. "Go search for the bomb and confront Kuroiro-san, Kinoko-san! I'll stop Tsuburaba-san here."

Tsuburaba took another deep breath and created another air wall on the entrance of the stairs, stopping Kinoko from advancing further. "You shall not pass!"

That second was all Shiozaki needed. Her vine raced towards Tsuburaba. Tsuburaba tried to make a second air wall, but her vine veered around it before it can finish forming. She wrapped Tsuburaba around and squeezed, making him breath out forcefully. She slammed him into the ground. "Agh! Watch it!"

Kinoko quickly fumbled around with the capture tape before getting a piece. She knelt down and just as she was about to wrap it around Tsuburaba's wrist, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around until she was face-to-face with Kuroiro, who had his signature eerie grin on his face. "Yo."

"Gah!" Kinoko fell backward while Shiozaki suddenly jumped. "W-Where did you-?!"

"Both of the heroes have been captured! Victory goes to the villain team!"

"What?! How?!" Shiozaki said in disbelief, looking around herself. Still grinning, Kuroiro pointed at their ankles. There, in the thinnest piece possible, was the capture tape, wrapped snugly around their ankles. "But...that's impossible…"

Kinoko looked down at her own ankle, wondering the same as Shiozaki. She looked towards the dark underside of the stairs. _Oh...that's why..._

Tsuburaba groaned, his face going purple from the lack of air. Shiozaki gathered her vines back on her head and Tsuburaba sat up, taking deep breaths of air. Kuroiro walked over to him and held his hand out. "Kept you waiting, huh?"

"D-Dammit." Tsuburaba took his hand and stood up with a pained grunt. "Why did _I _have to be the distraction?"

"Cuz you're the lackey," Kuroiro answered with his grin.

"Enough wasting time here, students! Get back to the observation room so that we can discuss how you did!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

The class was currently discussing how the match went. It was mostly about how Kuroiro got the drop on the hero team. Setsuna looked at the monitor in disbelief. _It was exactly how Midoriya said it would be..._

"I couldn't even see where he came from! He just appeared like that!"

"How sneaky…it was just like what Midoriya said."

"Is no one going to talk about the fact that Tsuburaba just appeared with a mustache? No? Okay then..."

The door to the observation room opened and the subjects of the discussion walked through. They looked no worse for wear save for Tsuburaba, who was bruised and beat up.

"Do you need to go to Recovery Girl, Young Tsuburaba?" All Might asked, inspecting Tsuburaba's injuries. Tsuburaba just grinned.

"I'm fine! It's just a scratch is all!"

"As expected from my bro!" Tetsutetsu grabbed Tsuburaba in a headlock and gave him a noogie, prompting Tsuburaba to cry out in pain and his fake mustache to fall off.

"Now, settle down everyone! I would like to say congratulations to the villain team! You very much got into the mindset of a villain and fulfilled your goal of capturing the heroes!" All Might turned to the two teams. "Self-reflection is the best way to learn! Is there anything you two would've done differently so that the outcome may change?"

Shiozaki spoke up first. "It was mainly my fault because I didn't believe Kinoko-san when she told me that Kuroiro-san had the ability to merge with the shadows. I had thought such an ability was too unholy and therefore impossible, even though Kinoko knew Kuroiro-san for a longer time than I did. I disregarded that vital piece of information when I was chasing after Tsuburaba-san, where Kuroiro-san placed his trap, which I still disapprove of." She glared at Kuroiro and he shrugged. "For that, I would like to apologize to you, Kinoko-san."

"I-It was partially my fault too," Kinoko said, flustered and waving her arms around frantically. "I-I couldn't really contribute much and I failed to get my spores on Tsuburaba-san in time. And I was tricked by Tsuburaba-san into thinking that Kuroiro-kun was with the bomb when he was under our noses the entire time."

Kuroiro looked surprised at the affectionate way Kinoko addressed him. Tsuburaba went next.

"I don't really have anything other than that I could've maybe placed my air wall in a better position maybe? I don't know…" Tsuburaba said. Kuroiro nodded at that and said nothing for himself.

"Good! This will ensure that you will learn that lesson next time! Is there any questions anyone wanted to ask before we move on?"

"I just wanted to ask how you guys even got captured with the tape," Honenuki said. "I didn't notice he tied it your ankles. All I saw was that he popped out and scared Kinoko-san."

"I partially submerged myself in the darkness," Kuroiro said, pleased with himself. "I didn't want to bring attention to myself while Tsuburaba was distracting them, so I only had my hands pop out and tie them while they were trying to capture Tsuburaba."

"I see! Any other questions?"

"Let me ask the real question here," Tetsutetsu said, looking at Tsuburaba seriously. "Where did you get such a swanky mustache from!? It was hilarious!"

"That's mine, actually," Kuroiro said.

"Why did you have it?"

"No reason. Or do I have a reason? You'll never know..." The class face-faulted at that. Awase turned to Midoriya.

"You were right, Midoriya!" Awase said, slapping Midoriya's back in a friendly manner. "Everything you just said literally came true in that fight! Hey, why don't you tell me what might happen in my match, huh?"

"Wait, do me also!"

"Stop crowding around him guys! I need to ask too!"

Midoriya turned red when his classmates surrounded him again. Setsuna stared at him, thoroughly impressed. She honestly thought that she would be the tactician queen around here based on first impressions. But she was already dethroned on the second day no less! She wasn't mad though. If anything, this sparked her interest even more now. She was actually getting excited at the fact that she can now have intellectual conversations with a person who was on her level or potentially even above her. That meant she can be surprised or learn new things. Her grin became cheshire-like. _Midoriya, huh? How interesting. Maybe I should challenge him to a shogi or chess match sometime..._

* * *

**I want to start off with apologizing for such a late update. The end of the grading period was approaching so I found myself busier than ever before. And whenever I did have free time, I will admit I just got lazy and played video games instead. And I had to create an outline because I am going to detail what happens in each battle trial, so be excited for that! I'm back baby!**

**As you can see in this chapter, I listed out all the matchups that are happening with the best happening last obviously. Some matchups were what I put together at random but others I delibaretly had match up for plot purposes. Either way, each will reveal new things about the characters and I hope you will be excited for them. **

**There is a review that I would like to address. For you beenjamin0421, you expressed concern that Midoriya will have his same old fighting style and have his same development. I thought I had made it clear before with a hint in a previous AN but I'll guess I'll just outright say it now. Izuku will be getting a revamped or remixed fighting style. Not just him, the others as well. I even got a development plan for Monoma regarding his Quirk, believe it or not. How these changes happen, well you'll just have to wait to find out. **

**Which brings me to another point. _Hero Names. _Some of them are absolutely atrocious. Mud-man. _Lizardy?! _Fuck no I'm not gonna use these names. Some of them are admittedly clever like Vantablack, which is Kuroiro's name. Currently, since I'm bad at naming as you can already tell from the fucking chapter titles itself (Seriously it took me two whole days to come up with a good name for this fic) I'm leaving it you guys. Any name suggestion for any character, I'm open to suggestions. I'm saying this now so that I hope that I'll get some suggestions by the time the naming thing comes to this story.**

**Other than that, I have nothing else to say. Support for this story is crazy as usual and I will say this again as many times as I need to, thank you so much for the support. If you see any mistakes or grammar errors, PM me or review, I'm fine with either. I'll see you next chapter. **


	5. Battle Trials: Part Two

All Might smiled proudly when he saw the students surround Midoriya. Midoriya's social skills had been a longtime worry for him. There were many clear warning signs when he had started training the young aspiring hero-to-be. The boy was painfully shy and even bordered antisocial. He had sometimes come with bruises that weren't there from training the day before and would dodge All Might's concerned questions fervently. And whenever All Might had patted him on the back, he had flinched away every time, which basically confirmed All Might's secret fear.

_Just like when I was Quirkless…_

But seeing Midoriya interacting with his classmates alleviated some of that fear. Sure, Midoriya will have to work on that stutter of his and learn how to maintain eye contact. But he had seen him go through his harsh training schedule without giving up and had no doubts that his successor can overcome these obstacles with time.

All Might shook his head. Now wasn't the time to admire Midoriya's growth. He may be his successor, but in UA he was just another student. He had to be fair to all of his students. That's what a teacher would do, after all.

"Alright, that's enough!" All the students turned toward All Might. All Might cleared his throat. "No need to crowd around Young Midoriya! You all need to come up with your own strategies with your partner."

"Yes, All Might-Sensei!" All Might nodded in approval. It seemed like Vlad King commanded more respect from his students than Eraser Head.

"Before we do anything else, would anyone like to guess who the MVP for this match was?" A hand raised up. "Yes, Awase-san?"

"Kuroiro, right? I mean, he came up with the plan and captured both of the heroes at the same time!"

The class murmured in agreement. All Might grinned. "That is where I would like to correct you all! I think the true MVP for this match is Young Tsuburaba!"

The class looked dumbfounded. Tsuburaba himself looked shocked.

"H-Huh?" Tsuburaba pointed at himself. "M-Me?!"

"Yes! It is true that Young Kuroiro captured the heroes and planned the whole operation, but Young Tsuburaba was in charge of running the distraction. He had to hold off two heroes at once and had to make sure they were in place so that Young Kuroiro can set off the trap successfully. It could've easily gone all wrong if Young Shiozaki pulled him closer with her vines instead of playing it safe, but Young Tsuburaba eliminated that possibility and even made sure they followed him to initiate the next step of the plan. That's why I think he deserves the title of MVP!"

Call it his personal bias, but All Might had always admired those who ran as distractions. They had always put themselves in the line of fire just for a chance to defeat the villains. Most of the time, they got injured and some may not even be able to continue their careers as heroes. Tsuburaba had also gotten hurt when Shiozaki had slammed him down with her vines. If there was anything All Might admired, it was the spirit of self-sacrifice.

"Is there anything else anyone would like to mention about this match before we move on?" He got a bunch of shaking heads in response. "Alright, time for match number two! The second group should make their way to the building now! Same rules apply and may the better team win!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Jurota stared up at the building before them. It towered over them dauntingly, as if the situation that was presented to them was actually real.

Jurota was uncomfortable in his hero costume. He was completely shirtless, leaving his brown chest fur on full display. He wore regular brown pants with an unclipped collar around his neck. He replaced his glasses with contacts, though they irritated his eyes a lot. _I should probably get some custom goggles instead of contacts in the future._

His partner definitely went for a race horse theme with her hero costume. Tsunotori wore a horse halter around her head with a lead rope dangling from the back. She primarily had a skintight jockey uniform with an orange design with pale markings near her chest and stomach. She wore matching pants with a pair of fingerless gloves. She wore many belts around her collarbone, arms, and lower torso. Her boots also had stirrups on the side.

She didn't look worried at all, something he wished he could've said for himself. This was his very first hero exercise after all. He had read and watched many situations to get a better understanding of how to be a hero, but experiencing the real deal was much different than seeing it behind a screen or page.

_Remember. Only use your arms. Transform anything else and I'll probably lose it..._

"S-Shishida-san!" Jurota turned toward Tsunotori, who was smiling at him cutely. "I be behind! You be front! Then I shoot my horns! Yes?"

"That is an excellent strategy for now, Tsunotori-san!" Jurota said. Mostly because he hadn't thought of anything yet and he wanted to be supportive of her. Still, they needed something more concise if they were going to work together effectively. "Since we have the time, let us discuss more strategies and how we can use our Quirks together."

Tsunotori nodded at that. They walked into the building together, their resolve set to win their first exercise.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"So, what do you think will happen this time?" Tetsutetsu asked Izuku.

"W-What?"

"With this battle. You know, cuz you perfectly predicted what happened last time…"

Everyone in the dark room leaned forward. Izuku started to sweat when he saw that the whole class was staring at him. "A-All Might said that we weren't allowed-"

"Nonsense, Young Midoriya!" All Might put his hand on Izuku's shoulder, making him flinch. "I merely said that you aren't allowed to ask for advice from anyone other than your partner for your battle. But there is nothing wrong with speculating while a battle is happening. In fact, I think that would help build all of your planning skills for the future! Why don't you give us your thoughts, Young Tetsutetsu?"

"H-Huh? Oh! Umm…" Tetsutetsu turned around and peered at the monitors. "Umm...I know that Shishida can turn into some sort of beast and Tsunotori can launch her horns, but...what were the evil teams' Quirks again?"

"Awase-san can fuse anything together as long as he comes in contact with his target." Honenuki put his fingers on his chin. "I'm not sure how Shoda-san's Quirk works, however."

"Shoda-san can make a second greater impact after the first impact," Izuku said, flipping through his notebook. "Though, I'm not sure if there are any restrictions or limitations to what an 'impact' is. Or how much greater the second impact will be after the first one. Or if his Quirk applies only to impacts he can create or any impact in an area."

"Alright." Tetsutetsu looked at the screen again. He scratched his head. "Honestly, I think Shishida just needs to go beast mode and the evil team is toast. Combined with Tsunotori playing support with her horns, I don't see how they can win."

"I see! Are there any objections?" All Might asked.

"Yes." Tokage raised her hand up. She gave Izuku a challenging grin. "I wouldn't count out the villain team just yet. Their Quirks may not be straightforward, but they can be powerful if used right. Awase can incapacitate Tsunotori if he fuses her horns together and Shoda can play good support. Unless you have something to say, Midoriya?"

"N-No. I agree with you," Izuku said, confused by the weird tone Tokage used with him. Did she hold a grudge against him for proving her wrong? Izuku _really _hoped that wasn't the case. "I don't know enough about Shoda-san's Quirk to see how it can be useful in this situation, so it's an unpredictable factor. But I still think the hero team has the advantage because of Shishida-san's beast Quirk, which I'm pretty sure gives him super-strength and speed, and what Tetsutetsu-san said earlier about Tsunotori-san playing support with her horns."

"Wow. Way to make my analysis feel really bad," Tetsutetsu said. "But I agree with you. What you said sounds right."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Your prediction was fine," Kendo said. Though she tried to sound encouraging, it fell flat because of the thousand-yard stare she had. "You just need to look at the bigger picture rather than the most obvious part of it."

Izuku looked at her with scrunched eyebrows and saw her staring at Kamakiri intensely.

_Did something happen between the two of them?_

"I still would like to repeat myself and say that not all things happen as expected. We should watch closely and revise our speculations depending on how the match goes," Honenuki said. Izuku agreed with him and they turned back to the monitors.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

After Jurota had finally made Tsunotori understand his plan, they ventured through the hallways. Tsunotori had explained, with her limited knowledge of Japanese, that her Quirk allowed her to fire multiple horns and that she can change their trajectory mid-flight too. That helped their position a lot if he can manage to protect her.

_If I can protect her...and not hurt her instead…_

Jurota shook his head. Why did this have to happen _now_? _As long as I don't go full beast, I won't hurt her. I swear it._

But what happened if he gave in to the temptation? What would happen to her? To all of them?

_Shut up! _Jurota gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. His regular footsteps turned into stomps. He could swear that he could feel the beast within trying to claw out. Trying to whisper sweet nothings in his head to give him a reason to transform. But he immediately dismissed those notions. There was no other entity or personality within him trying to possess him. It was all biological, meaning that there was nothing that he could do to change this. He repeated his mantra in his head. _As long as I don't go full beast, no one has to get hurt. No one._

"You okay, Jurota-san?" Tsunotori asked in her stilted way. Jurota stopped suddenly, almost bumping into her. He turned around and saw that she had a fearful expression on her face. He looked at his posture and immediately felt ashamed of himself.

"I'm fine," he said slowly. When her expression didn't change, he gave her a thumbs up. It was the universal sign for positivity. There was no way she couldn't understand that. "Do not worry. I am fine."

"Okay," Tsunotori said, though she still looked suspicious. He didn't think he did a good job of convincing her, but he would have to deal with that for later.

"They must be playing more defensively. That's smart. We might've dominated them in a closed space like this," Jurota muttered to himself, thinking back to Midoriya's analysis. "We'll have to confront them head-on."

They checked all of the floors until they arrived at a particular door that was welded shut on all sides. He motioned to Tsunotori to stand on the opposite side of the door. He held up three fingers and Tsunotori nodded. He started putting one finger down at a time. Once his hand closed into a grip, his right arm expanded. His fur grew longer alongside his arm. His muscles elongated until his arm was clearly bigger and disproportionate to his body. He swung and made a big dent in the door. He could hear a muffled "oh shit!" from inside the room and swung again. His fist broke through to the other side and he felt a small amount of triumph. That triumph soon turned to horror when he felt his paw merge with the door.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Damn, that's some horror movie shit, bursting your hand through the door like that," Tsuburaba commented. "Though, it seems Awase has that under control."

Izuku was rapidly scribbling in his notebook. _Shishida-san can do a partial transformation? That changes things!_

"I really underestimated the villain team." Tetsutetsu looked at the screen in awe. He grinned sharply. "I won't let them upstage me like this!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Foolish heroes!" Jurota heard Awase cackle through the door. "If you think you can scare us with your measly power then you've got another thing coming!"

"We're giving you one chance to stand down!" Jurota yelled, getting into character. If the previous group roleplayed, why shouldn't he? "If you come with us peacefully, you might get a lighter sentence!"

"With your hand merged to the door? We will never yield!" That was Shoda's voice.

"Then you leave me no choice!" Jurota pulled his arm away, ripping the door from its place completely. His paw was a weird amalgamation of fur and steel. He looked forward and saw Awase and Shoda's shocked expressions. "Tsunotori-san!"

"Yes, Chief!" Tsunotori shot her horns forward, scattering the two villains. Jurota used the door as a makeshift riot shield and awkwardly tried to fit through the malformed doorway. Tsunotori had already fired another volley of horns and were making them shoot toward Awase, who was the greatest threat at the moment. Awase, who was wearing a full-body suit with shoulder pads, ducked away and the horns pierced the ground where he had just been. Jurota looked around and found the bomb fused on the wall in the corner. _There's the objective!_

Jurota swung his paw-fused-door at Awase, who shrieked and dived away. He adjusted his striped headband. "Holy fuckin' shit! Watch it, bro! I-I mean colorful do-gooder!"

With his path clear, Jurota started running toward the bomb. He stumbled when his door-hand kept hitting the floor. _I can't run properly with this attached to me!_

Tsunotori kept on launching multiple horns at Awase from her position near the doorway. Awase rolled behind Jurota. "Shoda! Tackle him!"

Jurota felt his stomach cave in. All the air rushed out of his lungs at once, making him wheeze. He looked down and saw that Shoda, who was wearing a high-collared suit with a white-lined design, had tackled his stomach. _He's surprisingly strong…_

Another sudden and stronger impact to his lower torso sent him flying across the room. He slammed against the wall, where Awase had been waiting for him. Awase immediately set to work and welded him against the wall. Jurota tried to make his other arm transform but felt his mind start to fade. _No! I'm losing control! I should be able to handle this much at least!_

"Shishida from the hero team has been captured!" Jurota looked down and saw that Shoda just finished tying the capture tape around his legs.

"Go Tsunotori-san! Leave me! I'm done for!" Shishida screamed at her. Tsunotori nodded and got on all four limbs like a horse. She galloped with unnatural speed. Awase and Shoda tried to dive toward her but she shot past them before they could touch her. She leaped in the air and hugged the fake bomb.

"Goal complete!" She nuzzled the bomb with her face. Jurota sighed and reverted back to his base form, save for his paw that was still welded to the door. He could feel his mind clear up.

_Thank goodness…_

"The bomb has been secured! Victory goes to the hero team!"

"Damn it! I didn't think she was that fast!" Awase walked over to Jurota and unfused him from the wall. He also separated Jurota's still transformed paw from the door. "Let me help you out with that."

"Thank you." Jurota held out his paw. It shrunk back into a normal hand. "No hard feelings?"

Awase accepted the handshake. "Nah. You did well out there."

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Dang, Tsunotori is pretty fast!"

"Shoda-san is pretty strong to take down Shishida-san like that."

"So, is roleplaying going to be a requirement now?"

Both teams had returned to the observation room to receive their analysis and were subjected to the class' reactions. All Might clapped his hands to grab their attention. "Alright! Both teams did very well! I especially liked the sportsmanship from Young Awase and Young Shishida! You will be classmates for three years so there should be no animosity between you!"

Everyone looked at Kamakiri. Kamakiri just snorted and looked away.

All Might raised a finger up. "Let's do this in the same format as last time! What do both teams have to say for themselves? Losing team first!"

"We concentrated too much on Shishida-san and disregarded Tsunotori-san. We didn't think she would be very fast with her hooves when the opposite was actually true," Shoda said.

"We could've also fused the bomb on the roof instead of the sidewall. I could've used my welding Quirk to scale the walls to do it. Then it wouldn't have been so easy for the heroes to get to it," Awase said after thinking for a bit.

All Might turned to the other team. "Anything you would like to say for yourselves?"

"I was really quiet. I need… to talk better," Tsunotori said, looking frustrated when it took her a moment to find the word. "Not just for this. For future too. Communication is important."

Shishida removed his contacts and put on his glasses. He blinked a few times. "I shouldn't have struck the door. I neglected to consider the effects of my actions when I punched the door and realize what a disadvantageous position I put our team in. When Awase-san welded my hand to the door, it reduced my mobility and vision a lot. And I got completely incapacitated when Shoda-san and Awase-san teamed up. Their teamwork was impeccable, and I commend them for it. Tsunotori-san also provided excellent support."

"Excellent self-reflection, all of you! Now, are there any questions?" All Might was a bit surprised to see Midoriya raise his hand up.

"W-Why didn't you use the full extent of Quirk, S-Shishida-san?" Midoriya asked, his notebook open and pen ready. "I-I'm pretty sure you would've been able to withstand Shoda's Quirk if you did a full transformation, which could have made the fight go more smoothly."

Shishida winced. "Whenever I do a full transformation, I lose control of my mental capacity. My Quirk doctor explained that my Amygdala gets aggravated whenever the full extent of my Quirk is used." He grinned at them confidently. "But do not fret! As long as I keep my Quirk usage in check, I will be fine!"

"What is an 'Amygdala'?" Tsuburaba asked, looking totally lost. "And what does that have to do with Shishida not going beast mode?"

"The Amygdala is the part of the brain that governs fear and anger. What Shishida-san is trying to say is that he feels an overwhelming amount of anger or rage whenever he uses his Quirk," Honenuki explained. "Right, Shishida-san?"

"More like an overwhelming high," Shishida corrected. He glared half-heartedly at Tsuburaba. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't describe my Quirk as 'beast mode'."

"Oh. Sorry, dude." Tsuburaba rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And I understand now. Thanks for that, Honenuki."

"Now that we got that out of the way, I would like to proclaim that Young Awase is the MVP for this match!" All Might got another round of shocked looks. "Why are you so surprised? Just because he was part of the losing team doesn't mean he didn't perform spectacularly. His quick thinking allowed him to buy time for Young Shoda to get into position. Combined with excellent teamwork from Young Shoda, Young Awase was then able to completely immobilize Young Shishida!"

Awase beamed at the praise. All Might looked back at the monitors. "That is all! The third group should head over now!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Neito looked at the bomb with a hard expression. His fists were clenched tightly. This was his chance to prove that he was worthy of being in the hero course. While it was unfortunate that he didn't get to be the hero, he could work with being a villain. He had a lot of experience, after all.

"If you stare at that fake bomb any longer, it might actually explode for real." Neito turned around to see his partner, Setsuna Tokage. She was in a scaly blue bodysuit with a matching mask. She wore a pair of black knee-high boots similar to Shiozaki. She also had on a pair of orange fingerless gloves with a belt tied around her waist with a jewel at the center. She gave him a cocky smirk and put her right hand on her hip. "Why don't we stop wasting time and talk strategy. Let's discuss our Quirks."

Neito smirked at her right back. "I don't think that's really necessary. Your Quirk allows you to separate body parts with levitation, right? You didn't warn me about the repercussions about using your Quirk when I copied it back in the obstacle course, so I can assume that you have a failsafe if you lose one of your limbs. Limb regeneration, I would say?"

"Aren't you a wise guy?" Tokage sauntered toward him. Neito had no shame in admitting that Tokage had an attractive figure. He figured that Tokage herself already knew that, given how confident she looked right now. Or was that a cover-up for something else? "Alright, I'll play your game. Your Quirk allows you to copy every aspect of another person's Quirk through touch. You can hold multiple Quirks within yourself, but it seems you can't use two Quirks simultaneously. And judging from the watches on your costume, I daresay you have a time limit for each Quirk you copy?

Neito smiled at her. He had to admit that she was pretty smart to figure that out. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would like to. You seem to have no problem spouting your weaknesses to Midoriya."

"_Obvious _weaknesses," Neito corrected. "Weaknesses a normal person can deduce on their own. Weakness that you or Midoriya could figure out within seconds. But since we're going to be allies in the foreseeable future, I might as well tell you a little bit. My Quirk doctor did confirm that it is biologically impossible for me to wield two Quirks at once."

He neglected to mention that the same doctor had also told him he had a snowball's chance in hell of becoming a hero.

"I'm absolutely _honored _by your trust in me," Tokage said while bowing to him. Neito rolled his eyes, but he had a playful smirk. "But we can still work with this. Would you like to hear my plan?"

"Before that, allow me to say something first." Neito looked to the ground. "I...uh…would like to apologize for what happened back at the Quirk assessment. I meant to apologize yesterday but I couldn't find the time, so…"

Tokage blinked before she started to giggle. "What? For stealing my Quirk? Dude, you don't have to apologize for that. I understand why you did it."

"That, and for acting like a pompous asshole before I took your Quirk," Neito added. "I don't mind stealing Quirks from opponents, but I'm trying to make it a habit of asking if I can use someone else's Quirk, unless we are facing against each other. For some people, their Quirks are extremely personal. I should've asked you for your Quirk like I did with Tsuburaba-san and Midoriya-san since we'll be working together now and in the future. And I didn't need to act like a dramatic jerk throughout the whole exchange."

"Well, you never offended me at all, but I'll accept your apology if it means that much to you. And you can use my Quirk anytime without asking." Tokage held out her hand. "So, we're good."

Neito smiled and shook her hand, copying her Quirk in the process. "Thanks."

"Great! _Now _would you like to hear my plan? We still have a little time left."

Neito made an exaggerated sweep with his arm. "By all means."

~Class~1'B's~Dekiru~

_Hell yeah! It's time to show them what I'm made of! Literally!_

Tetsutetsu's hero costume consisted of a dark green jumpsuit that cut off just below his chest, showing off his muscular figure. There were several small, silver-rimmed holes in the lower section of his baggy pants and metal-plated boots. He had steel straps over his shoulders and under his arms, all converging to a small red oval at the center of his chest. Two small metal bands were attached on his biceps. For the final touch, he wore a metal mouth-guard with the letter's 'Fe' stamped on a plate on each side of his face. He thought that was clever, given the nature of his Quirk.

Tetsutetsu activated his Quirk and put his fist in his palm, creating a loud and satisfying _clang! _He wore a bloodthirsty grin on his face as he walked toward the building. His body was practically vibrating with excitement. He was finally in the hero course, doing hero things, alongside partners that will also become heroes. Who wouldn't be excited? He knew Tsuburaba would agree with him. That guy was an absolute bro.

"Ugh…" Tetsutetsu looked back and saw Yanagi limping. She was in a long black kimono which dragged across the floor. She also had on a black mask. "My hero costume...I think I gave them the wrong height measurements…"

That wouldn't do. Tetsutetsu kneeled down and inspected it. "Do you want me to tear it off?"

Yanagi glared at him and pulled the extra length away. "No. I'll be fine."

"But you can barely move."

"I'll be _fine_."

Tetsutetsu just scratched his head. She wasn't making any sense. _Girls are weird..._

"Well, you got a plan? I just want to rush them before they get anything ready!"

Yanagi shook her head. "That won't work. Tokage... is too smart for that."

Tetsutetsu frowned and looked up at the decrepit building. Tokage was definitely a planner, given how both she and Midoriya had been trading information during the earlier matches. And Monoma seemed like a smart dude too. "Then what do you think we should do? The more time we wait here, the more time they will have to spring a trap on us!"

"Well...you should take the front. You have a good defensive Quirk."

"I mean, I kind of already figured that." Tetsutetsu frowned. "What can you do with your Quirk, though?"

"My Quirk, Poltergeist, allows me to manipulate objects up to... one person's weight. Tokage can...split her body parts, so I was thinking that I can just use my Quirk... to keep them off. We will have to deal with Monoma too… because he might have Tokage's Quirk."

"The five minutes are over! Prepare to start the exercise!"

Tetsutetsu grinned. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Let's roll out!"

With that, the two heroes-in-training entered the building.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Who wants to predict what will happen this time?" All Might asked the class. "Don't be afraid to speak up! No one here will judge you on your thoughts."

Honenuki raised his hand. "I would like to do it this time if you don't mind, All Might-sensei."

"Not at all, Young Honenuki. The stage is all yours!"

"To start off with, I think the hero team has the advantage Quirk- wise. That is in the beginning, however. Monoma-san is still a wild card. If he manages to get Tetsutetsu-san's Quirk, then the balance may tip in their favor." Honenuki turned to Midoriya. "What do you think?"

The class looked at Izuku expectantly. Izuku started to sweat again. _I don't think I can ever get used to this..._

It felt weird to him that they didn't find his mumblings strange and were actually relying on him to give a good analysis. It wasn't a bad weird; it was the good type of weird. He hoped that he could keep on being useful to his peers. He had enough of being useless for once.

"I d-don't disagree w-with you," Izuku said after a moment of thinking. "Monoma-kun is definitely a wild card. He will have Tokage-san's Quirk with him right from the very beginning. We can't count Yanagi-san out, though. She holds the advantage over both of them since she can fling their body parts away with her Quirk."

"Oh! They found each other already!?"

Izuku and Honenuki snapped their necks toward the monitors.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"You want to be captured that badly, huh?" Tetsutetsu said. Neito stood at the other side of the hall in a tense showdown, his hands in his pockets nonchalantly. Yanagi stood behind Tetsutetsu in a defensive position. "Fine by me! Taking down villainous scum like you is our job!"

"Oh? Are you approaching me?" Neito said with a smirk. "Are you sure you want to do that? Even after what you have seen me do in the obstacle course?"

"I can't beat the shit out of you without coming closer, can I? Just give up and get captured, villain!"

"Who says I'll be the one that gets captured here, foolish hero?" Neito shrugged his shoulders and gave them a cocky grin. He took a peek at his stopwatch. Three minutes left. "I think I can take the two of you on by myself." He took out his right hand and made a 'come here' gesture with his fingers. "But if you're still so sure of yourself then come as close as you like!"

"Don't...fall for it," Yanagi said, glaring at him. "He's baiting you. Punch him and he will get your Quirk."

"Grrr…" Tetsutetsu growled but stayed in his position. It looked like he was physically restraining himself to stay put. "Why don't you come over here, huh? Or are _you _scared?"

"Terrified," Monoma responded. Two minutes left. "As tempting as that offer is, I'm afraid I must decline."

He peeked up toward the ventilation shutter above the hero team's head. He could vaguely see his and both of Tokage's hands give him a triple peace sign.

_One minute and 45 seconds left. We need to do this now._

Neito rushed toward Tetsutetsu suddenly, startling the duo. He tucked his still attached wrist in his baggy sleeve while cocking his right hand back in an obvious punch. Tetsutetsu grinned and turned into steel. "I thought you were smart, Monoma! You know what happens if you punch steel!"

"Yeah, but who said I was gonna punch you? Now, Tokage-san!" The ventilation shutters opened, dropping both of the hands on Tetsutetsu's face. His levitating hand shot toward Yanagi's face.

"EEEEEE! GET IT OFF!" Yanagi whirled around and clawed at her face.

"W-What the-?!" Tetsutetsu clawed at his own face. Neito took that chance and vaulted off Tetsutetsu's head, knocking him into the ground. "Hey!"

Neito turned into steel, making his hand on Yanagi fall limply. "I'll be borrowing this!"

Just before he landed on the ground, he spun his body around, his leg outstretched. He nailed the back of Yanagi's head with his enhanced leg, making her fly away before impacting the floor, rolling a few times. She was motionless.

Neito rolled onto his legs and looked at his opponent. He picked up his hand, which had fallen off during his initial kick, and switched Quirks. He reattached his hand to his wrist just as his time limit expired five seconds later. He breathed a sigh of relief. _Good thing I didn't lose it. It would've been a pain to regenerate it five minutes at a time..._

"I'll come down for support," Tokage said. Neito looked up and saw a floating eyeball and mouth watching them from the ventilation. He gave them a thumbs up, making Tokage giggle.

"Get off of me!" Tetsutetsu ripped the hands off of his face and threw them to the side. Switching Quirks, Neito turned his body back into steel. Tetsutetsu got up and cracked his neck, creating a weird combined sound of steel screeching and neck cracking. "Now you'll get it!"

Tetsutetsu rushed toward him, his fist cocked back. Neito crossed his arms in front of his face, expecting the steel to block it completely. What he wasn't expecting was for Tetsutetsu to completely break through his defense. Neito grit his teeth and dug his feet into the ground, skidding back five meters. Though his arms weren't broken, it hurt like _hell. Holy fuck, this hurts! I guess since we're both made out of steel, it becomes a regular fight. Whoever has more strength hits harder. And he definitely has more muscles than me!_

"Looks like you can't handle my Quirk!" Tetsutetsu said, stomping toward him with a bloodthirsty grin. "Why don't you just surrender yourself, villain!"

Neito gritted his teeth. He stretched his arms. Though his skin was made of steel, his muscles moved and flexed accordingly. It wasn't any harder to stretch his limbs and there seemed to be no loss of speed or function. That was good. It meant that his fighting style was still viable. "Not a chance."

"Your funeral." Tetsutetsu swung his fist, but Neito knew better than to take it head-on now. He leaned backward just in time to see Tetsutetsu's fist miss his face. "W-What the-?!"

Neito grinned and launched his leg up in a 180 degree high kick, nailing Tetsutetsu in the chin. Tetsutetsu spat upwards forcefully as Neito launched himself up in the air and executed a perfect mid-air pirouette, his leg outstretched. Just like with Yanagi, he kicked the side of Tetsutetsu's head, forcefully making him turn his head, but he stayed in place. _W-What!?_

Tetsutetsu grabbed Neito's leg and threw him into the ground. Neito spat out forcefully, his face contorted in pain. Tetsutetsu picked him up and slammed him into the wall.

"Monoma!"

One of Tokage's hands flew toward Tetsutetsu, but he just batted it aside. He stepped back, hearing a nasty _Crunch!_, and kept Neito pinned to the wall. "I'm ending this now!"

He sent a barrage of punches to Neito's face. Neito took them all. _D-Dammit...i-is there nothing I can do?"_

Memories of a familiar situation flew through his mind. His father's advice rang through his ears. _"There's a time and place for everything...but not now. Only use this technique if you have no other options left…"_

"I'm surprised you're still conscious," Tetsutetsu said. He cocked his fist back. "My Quirk really is great. Sorry for the beating, but I _really _want to win this."

Despite the fact that Neito can literally feel his face swell up, he managed to give Tetsutetsu a cocky smirk. "I still have...one final trick up my sleeve…"

"Oh?" Tetsutetsu didn't seem too worried. "What can you possibly do to get you out of this situation?"

"This!" Utilizing his father's advice and the rest of the little energy he had, he kneed right into Tetsutetsu's family jewels.

_CLANG!_

There was silence. Neito started sweating. _Did...did it not work?_

He fell to the floor all of a sudden. He looked up to see Tetsutetsu fall to his knees and go cross-eyed. He clutched his family jewels and slammed his head to the ground. Neito grinned savagely.

"FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Going by his earlier logic, having balls of steel meant shit if your opponent was also made out of steel.

"W-With both h-heroes down, the v-villain team wins!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Monoma, you motherfucker! Do you not know what the 'bro code' is?!"

"Damn, he has some moves. Did you see how flexible he is?"

"The phantom pain… Oh, I can feel the phantom pain…"

Every male in the room had immediately been affected by Neito's actions. Even Kamakiri crossed his legs uncomfortably. It was like Tetsutetsu's pain transcended spatial boundaries and made every male feel it as well. It didn't help that the monitors chose that specific moment to show a close up of the impact.

Neito's face hurt a lot, but it was getting better slowly. Midoriya and Kendo immediately went to check on him, but he waved them off. Tetsutetsu limped to where Tsuburaba was and leaned on his shoulder. Neito looked at Tetsutetsu sympathetically. Maybe he had overdone it a bit.

Tokage couldn't stop laughing when she had heard about what Neito did. Though, she looked extremely tired now.

"Nice work to both teams!" All Might said after all the men recovered. Even he too was subjected to the effects, but only for a moment. "This was certainly an exciting one! And I'm pretty sure you know the drill at this point!"

Tetsutetsu groaned and stood up. "I think my mistake was taunting Monoma when I realized he wasn't down. He certainly...got me good…"

"Uh...sorry about that…" Neito said awkwardly. Tetsutetsu shook his head.

"Fuck you, man. I know I punched your face, but that was not metal. That was not metal…at all."

"Yeah. I can tell."

All Might cleared his throat. "Is there anything else you would like to say?"

Yanagi stepped forward, refusing to meet All Might's eyes. "I didn't...contribute at all. I just got scared...and I paid the price for it." She clenched her fists, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes. "I went down in one hit!"

All Might immediately put his hand on Yanagi's shoulder. "Don't be sad about that. Everyone makes mistakes. You're all still heroes-in-training! Some people aren't just suited for combat right away. All we can do is look at what we did wrong and try again harder!"

Yanagi wiped her eyes and sniffled. She looked back up at All Might but with a determined expression this time. "Yes, All Might-sensei!"

"That goes for all of you!" All Might looked around the class. "You all are just beginners now! There's nothing wrong with failure. Just make sure to know that what you are attempting won't have a failure with major consequences! Understand?!"

"Yes, All Might-sensei!"

"Good! Now, it's time for the villain analysis. What do you two have to say for yourselves?"

"I didn't expect Tetsutetsu-san to be so sturdy with his Quirk. I should've tired him out instead of going in for the kill," Neito said.

"I didn't even think of using the ventilation system like that. That was really smart!" Midoriya muttered to himself.

"It was all Tokage-san's plan with a few tweaks made by me. She deserves most of the credit."

"But you were still able to carry it out! That in itself is commendable." All Might turned to Tokage. "Do you have anything to say?"

"I could have…" *yawn* "helped out Monoma-san more with his fight with Tetsutetsu. I don't know…"

"Are you alright, Young Tokage? Do you need to go to the infirmary?" All Might took a closer look at her and reeled back in shock. "Where's your hand!?"

The whole class looked toward Tokage. Tokage just yawned again and pointed with the one hand she still had at Tetsutetsu's foot. "I think...I lost it when he stepped...on it."

"When I stepped on it…?" Tetsutetsu raised his foot up with a small _squelch! _and turned green. The whole underside of his foot was red with blood. Tokage's hand folded in with itself in a grotesque image of blood and gore. Three of her fingers were bent unnaturally with some of the bones poking out of the skin. Her thumb and index finger were nowhere to be seen. "O-OH S-SHIT! I-I'm sorry, Tokage!"

"It's fine." she looked really out of it now. "I can regenerate my limbs. Though...it really makes me tired…"

The class relaxed at that. All Might himself slumped in relief. "Thank goodness. You all should go to the infirmary. But before that, let me teach another lesson!"

All Might cleared his throat and continued. "All of you will be subjected to truly disgusting sights in this profession. That isn't to say that gore and bloodshed will be common, but all of you will see it at one point in your career. Some more than others. You all must adapt to it. That being said, if anyone feels sick, you all can take a small break right now. The bathrooms are on the left."

A few students left once they got the consent. After about ten minutes, they came back. Tetsutetsu still looked a bit green, but his boot looked clean now.

All Might continued. "On to a much happier topic, I name Young Monoma as the MVP! Young Monoma adapted well to Young Tokage's plan and taught everyone an important lesson: that villains fight dirty. That doesn't mean that heroes shouldn't fight dirty as well. If villains will fight without honor, then why should heroes? Just know when a dirty tactic crosses your moral boundaries and you all should be fine! Good job with that, Young Monoma!"

Neito looked at All Might in surprise. People usually told him the opposite, but it seemed All Might had a different idea. Neito smiled as he finally felt the weight of his accomplishment settle in his mind. Maybe this school would finally be different…

"Now, go to Recovery Girl! No arguments! You all need to be fixed up! Does anyone need help to get to the infirmary?"

Tokage looked at Neito lazily. She was swaying and looking like she would collapse at any moment. Part of her hand was already reforming from her wrist. "Carry me?"

Neito had a small blush but didn't argue. He picked her up princess style, prompting a few wolf whistles and catcalls. "Oh, piss off!"

The class laughed behind him, and he allowed himself to smile again. He continued to the infirmary without looking back.

"With that out of the way, it's time for the next match!"

* * *

**Welp. I have over 12,000 views on this story now. All I can say right now is 'damn!'. I'm pretty sure half of those views are from me alone though :D. There's a lot that I want to talk about so let's get right into it.**

**I first would like to announce the good news that RD1042 offered to beta read for me! He also beta read chapters 3 and 4 alongside this one so if you see that my chapters suddenly jump in quality, then you know who to thank. I'm especially thankful for all his help and hope that we can continue to work together in the future. He also has a story in the BNHA fandom called "Keep Talking and Somebody Explodes" so check out his profile and give it some love! It's chock full of references and its funny as hell. **

**Speaking of stories, I also want to shout out another one called Torchbearer by btn29! As I'm pretty sure for all of those that already read Torchbearer, I was actually inspired by that story to make what you see here! I think Torchbearer is a phenomenal story that expands upon Class 1-A's personality and effects of the events that happen to them so well. After binge reading it, I felt inspired to make this story that does the same thing, but with Class 1-B instead. I already have my own arcs planned and stuff so be excited for that! Torchbearer is in the favorites of my profile if you're interested in reading. I found it good and I hope you enjoy it as well. Let's get it to the front page of the favorites filter!**

**There are a few reviews that I want to respond to. The first one is for you, Komod0-Sensei. You completely read my mind on Monoma's hero name. I was totally going to make him Joker as a persona 5 reference! I'm also going to add that hero tagline 'the wildcard hero' cuz it sounds even cooler when you put it that way. I was planning on hiding it, but fuck it. Monoma is going to be joker and as you can see above, he's going to adopt that suave trickster personality when he's a hero. Of course that isn't going to be his whole personality. Monoma isn't Akira or Ren or whatever the canon name you live by. On a side note, Persona 5 Royal got revealed and atlus is basically teasing us with all these small videos. I'm throwing my worn wallet at the computer every single time. Are you excited as well?**

**Another reviewer I would like to address is ThFlash. You expressed concern on the pacing of Izuku's development. Well, I have good news for you and will say that his development is going to be somewhat faster-paced than in canon, but not by much in the beginning. I absolutely agree with you that Vlad-King's training will speed up Izuku's development. That's the whole reason why I even added it, to reinforce his militaristic nature and give Izuku a good excuse on why he is growing stronger faster. He will get something new by the time the sports festival rolls around, but he will not change before that and I apologize.**

**That's it really. Sorry for the really late update. Stuff n things in life got in the way. Though I can't make promises for faster updates. The good part about it is that I won't get burned out so easily. Bad part, well its slow updates. That's bad in out of itself. Again**

**I'm grateful for all the support. I've received a lot of hero names but nothing is finalized yet so thank you for all the suggestions. It gives me lots of options to work with. If you want to post more suggestions, feel free. Like I said, it hasn't been finalized yet. All of this has been crazy still and I can't believe I have this much support after only four chapters. If you find any mistakes, don't hesitate to call me out on it. I'll see you later. **


	6. Battle Trials: Part Three

Juzo stared at the building in front of him. The abandoned structure towered over him, blocking out the sunlight and casting a shadow over him and his partner. He flexed his gloved hands, a bead of sweat running down his face even though he didn't do any strenuous activity yet.

He looked down at his costume that he had painstakingly designed after many hours of blood, sweat, and tears. He wore a black skintight suit similar to Kuroiro with various pieces of orange armor strapped to his body. His helmet, which he was currently wearing, was round and elliptical with a black tint to hide his face. It was supported with orange lines on the side. The helmet also let out a bit of his long hair on his neck so that it wouldn't bunch up in the back. Two white metallic straps that were over his shoulder held his orange chest piece while another connected more orange plates over his thighs. He wore green and orange boots to complete the look.

"Nervous?" Kaibara asked. Juzo analyzed his costume. He had a windbreaker coat with rings. Over it, he wore another trench coat, topped with gloves with spiral edges on the fingers. For extra damage, Juzo deduced.

"A little bit," Juzo said. He looked at his calm face. "You seem to be fine."

"I'm nervous too. But there's no need to get worked up over it," Kaibara said. He put his hands in his pockets and turned away. "Letting our nervousness take over our actions will only lead to mistakes. And making mistakes as heroes cost lives. We can't let that happen."

"That's...one intense way of looking at it," Juzo said. "But this is just an exercise. I don't think you need to be this into it."

"We are in the top school for heroics in the country. This lesson is supposed to prepare us for that. If we fail this, then can we still say we deserve to be here?"

"Yes." Kaibara looked over at him, his eyebrows quirked. Juzo tried to explain more. "As you said, this is a simulation. We are allowed to fail. It helps us learn. And being in the top hero school gives us more opportunities because of how hard we worked to get here. We can get more experimental for how we want to do things in the future. That's how I see it, at least."

Kaibara looked down, deep in thought. "...maybe so, but I still would like to take this seriously. Let's think about our plan for now."

"Sure. We can talk more about this later."

"...alright. I can agree with that. You got any ideas for what we can do now?"

"I've got a few things I think the enemy will do. I think we should watch out for…"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"...Kaibara-san, since his Quirk is good for close combat. He can take us out instantly if he gets the chance," Yui said. Her hero costume consisted of a red bodysuit with a white V on her chest. She wore a short white skirt with an inverse red design on the front with a belt that held a small pouch of items for her Quirk. She also wore a partially open baseball style hat with a metallic fin on the back. "I don't think Honenuki-san will be a problem since- are you even listening?"

Bondo had been pacing around the room. His hero costume consisted of a pale baggy suit with accessories that looked like glue caps around his wrists and waist. He had a bigger accessory around his neck. He had raised his hands and looked at his chapped nails before shaking his head and continuing his frantic movements. He jumped when he heard Yui's voice.

"Y-Yeah I am!" Bondo said quickly. "L-Look out for Kaibara-san and his Quirk. Got it!"

"Then why are you so nervous?" Yui asked. The amount of fidgeting and stuttering coming from him was irrational. "You're falling apart before anything happened."

"W-Well…" He fidgeted around some more. "I-I don't want to fight anyone."

Yui nodded. "I remember you saying that back in the classroom."

"Y-Yeah. I-It's just...what if I seriously hurt someone? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happens." He held his bell-shaped head in his large hands. "Dang it, I just wanted to be a rescue hero! Nobody told me that we would be fighting right off the bat!"

"UA's high ranking comes from how good it teaches combat to all sorts of students with different Quirks," Yui told him. "Shiketsu is the one with the better track record for rescues. You should've done your research before choosing."

Bondo dug his head in deeper. Yui stood around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Some consoling might help, she supposed. It seemed like what one would do in a situation like this.

"You'll have to get used to fighting. With your Quirk, you have a lot of potential so I don't think you will have any trouble there," Yui said. "And I don't think you will have to worry about hurting anyone seriously here. Recovery Girl is a famous hero for a reason and I'm pretty sure All Might would stop a fight if it goes too far."

Bondo peeked through his fingers. "Y-You think so? About me being able to fight?"

Good. It seemed to be working. "Positive."

Bondo stood up straight, wiping his eyes. "O-Okay. I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it."

And she was successful. Now back to the objective. "On to our match again. I think Honenuki-san will have to be careful with his Quirk since if he uses it on the ground, it could damage the building. He will be easy to target."

"W-What do you need me to do?"

She looked at the bomb. They chose a mid-level floor instead of a high-level like the other villain teams to subvert expectations. It probably would also make them encounter each other faster. "Your glue can work as an excellent trapping method. I want you to trap Kaibara-san and Honenuki-san if you can. Kaibara-san is the priority here. I'll use my Quirk to create obstacles for them."

"Y-Your Quirk can make you change the size of objects, right? What sort of objects do you have?" Bondo asked. Yui blinked before reluctantly reaching into her pouch. Her stomach churned and her face started to burn. Embarrassment, she noted.

"...I have these." She pulled out a myriad of toys from her small pouch. From a certain small blue train to other bite-sized models. When submitting a costume design, she forgot to add a section for the consumables section for her Quirk. Luckily, or unluckily, her older brother said she 'got her covered'. She didn't think much of it until she found out what her brother exactly did when she put on her costume.

Bondo stared at the toys in her hand. Yui shuffled around, finding his stare unnerving. She was about to say something when he suddenly rushed at her, grabbing her hands, sparkles in his eyes. "Is that a 2098 stickman model?! How did you get that?! I've been searching for it forever!"

Yui blinked. _What?_

Bondo continued to gush. "Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm actually holding this in my hands! I seriously didn't think you were the type to collect this sort of stuff, Kodai-san!"

"I'm not. My brother is, judging by your reaction and how old it is." Just as she finished saying that, a lightbulb moment occurred to Yui. "Hey, you could have this after the battle."

Bondo stepped back, his eyes wide. "W-What?! But why? Wouldn't your brother want it back?"

"No. He gave them to me because he didn't want them anymore. At least you would have some use for it."

"But why wouldn't he want it? You could sell that for a lot of money if you find the right person!"

All the better. She owed her brother payback anyway and not just for her costume. "Beats me."

Bondo stared at her for a moment. He then bowed deeply. "Thank you so much! But I'll feel bad just receiving this for free. I'll find some way to make it up to you. For now, I won't hold you back in this exercise!"

Giving a material reward to incite motivation. An unexpected opportunity, but one she took immediately.

"The five minutes are over! Prepare to start the exercise!"

Yui took a deep breath and prepped the toys in her hands. "You remember the plan with Honenuki, right?" Yui asked. Bondo nodded quickly. "Good. Let's guard this bomb then."

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

The class watched the monitors, which was currently showing the hero team searching the lower floor halls. All Might cleared his throat. "Since we've established this at this point, would anyone else, who has _not _gone before, like to take a guess what might happen in this battle? I would like everyone to participate at least once! How about you, Kamakiri-san?"

"I'll pass," Kamakiri said in his corner. After an awkward moment of silence, Rin raised his hand. At All Might's grateful nod, he spoke.

"Bondo-san's Quirk allows him to create glue, right? I think he might seal the door as Awase-san did. But then Kaibara-san could just drill through the door with his Quirk…"

"Or Honenuki-san could soften it enough to break through," Shishida said. "I think they would benefit more by immobilizing Kaibara-san first since he has the most combat-oriented Quirk in this matchup. But I'm still not sure how an encounter will play out with their types of Quirks."

"Anything else? Again, you don't need my permission to speak up!"

"I'll give it a try," Kendo said. She peered up at the monitor. "Well, if we're going to talk about Quirk synergy like the last matchups, I think the two teams are equally as strong as the other. Kodai-san and Bondo-san can work together by making any objects she might have with her bigger, and Bondo-san gluing those objects in place to make barriers or obstacles. But Kaibara-san and Honenuki-san can counter that by softening those objects enough to drill through easy. But then again, Bondo-san can still trap the enemy team with his glue, which I think would end the match immediately."

"So you think that the teams are evenly matched! Is there anyone who disagrees?" All Might said. He turned to Izuku. "It looks like there is still something you still want to say. Would you like to finish us off, Young Midoriya?"

The class turned to him once again. This time, he was expecting it so he wasn't as nervous like last time. "W-Well...I agree with both teams having equal Quirk synergy. But I still think the hero team has a slight advantage still."

"Why's that?" Kendo asked.

"Because of Honenuki-san's Quirk. It's true that Bondo-san's Quirk can trap them both, but that is only if the glue hardens. Honenuki-san's Quirk can soften things, so he can still escape if he softens the glue, which would make it lose its sticky properties. But I don't know how fast he can soften things or if there is a limit to it so it can still go either way."

"Oh, I didn't even realize Honenuki-san could use his Quirk like that. Good thinking, Midoriya-san," Kendo said. Midoriya smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"But Bondo's a pretty big dude. I mean, look at the size of his arms!" Awase said. "I'm pretty sure he can pack a punch before Honenuki can do that shit."

"That's true…" Izuku muttered.

"I think we got most of our analysis out of the way. Let's see how much of it will come true!" All Might said. They all turned back to the monitors.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Juzo and Kaibara had just finished inspecting the first floor and was making their way up the stairs. Their knees were slightly crouched and both looked behind them frequently. Kaibara rotated his fingers occasionally and Juzo flexed his fingers. Both were in tension.

"You know... I wonder how our class is analyzing us," Juzo said. "There was a lot of insightful information floating around before the previous matches."

"Our classmates seem unusually intelligent. I'm sure they must have figured out some parts of our plan already," Kaibara said. He wasn't wrong. Though it was just the second day, Juzo could already see the differences in the mentality of his classmates. While his previous classmates in middle school weren't what he would call stupid, he could see how much more perceptive this class was in comparison to what he experienced before. Then again, U.A. was the top school for heroics. An ordinary person couldn't just waltz in after the strict entrance exams and requirements. It made sense that his classmates would be smarter and more powerful.

"Well, maybe we'll learn something new after this match is over," Juzo said.

"Maybe." Kaibara frowned suddenly. He stopped and pointed. "Hey...look at that door."

Juzo stopped and stared at what Kaibara was pointing at. The door looked like any other door save for the fact that there was a thin veil of glue surrounding the cracks, sealing it shut.

_It looks like they used the same strategy as Awase-san...but there must be something different about it._

Kaibara started tiptoeing to the door, but Juzo held his shoulder, making him stop. He looked back. "What?"

"The door is the most obvious approach," Juzo whispered. He made a 'follow me' gesture and went to the corner leading into another corridor. He pointed at the wall. "Let's soften part of the wall instead. It's connected to the same room and I doubt they would be expecting it."

Kaibara nodded. "Alright, good plan."

They silently walked over to the spot they planned to breakthrough. Juzo placed his palm on the wall and it immediately started to lose its shape.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Yui thought her plan was perfect. They had all their bases covered. They retried Awase's strategy of sealing the door with Bondo's glue and placed a glue trap in front of the door. They also glued a large toy in front of the door to block it. Not only that, she was also ready to place even more obstacles in front of the door to stall. She saw how fast both Kaibara and Honenuki's Quirk worked during the obstacle course and was confident that the two of them could hold off the hero team long enough for the timer to run out.

Those thoughts immediately began to derail when she saw the wall to her right start to melt.

"Bondo-san!" She barely got her warning out before the wall blew up. Dust and softened chunks of metal pelted them. They weren't hard enough to hurt seriously, but they still flinched nonetheless.

The dust settled to reveal the two heroes, who were also buffeted by the dust. Once the particles cleared, the duo rushed towards the bomb.

"Oh no you don't...uh...hero trash!" Bondo rushed towards the two of them, spraying his glue everywhere.

"Watch where you're throwing that stuff!" Yui tried weaving through the splotches of adhesive. Some of it got on her, but she still made her way through until she couldn't lift on of her feet.

Kaibara drill-punched Bondo in the stomach. Bondo flew to the other side of the room and slammed into the wall. He tried to get back up, but his cry of pain and his hand flying to his chest told her that he was out of the fight.

Kaibara tried advancing but found he couldn't lift his foot. He looked down to see that he had stepped on Bondo's glue. "No! Damn it!"

Kodai sighed in relief and tried to lift her foot, but found, to her horror, that she was stuck in Bondo's glue as well. Only Honenuki was free and was quickly making his way to the bomb. Kodai could only watch helplessly.

_No. _Not completely helpless. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a small blue train. _I won't fail. I will achieve my objective!_

She threw the toy and put her fingers together. All hell broke loose.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Whoa! What the hell?!"

"Damn, she seemed desperate back there."

_What is up with this hero course!? Even I wasn't this destructive back when I was still a student in U.A!_

All Might could only stare in disbelief alongside his students when a huge, googly-eyed blue train erupted through the side of the building. The train's derpy smile did not highlight the seriousness of the situation. He was tense, ready to leap into action if the two teams needed and rescuing.

Looking back to his students, he saw their various reactions and couldn't help but be disappointed. Tsuburaba was jumping up and down, squealing about some hero he never heard about. Most of the others looked on with interest and little concern, save for Kendo and Kinoko. Even his successor was rapidly writing down in that notebook of his, albeit he did look a bit worried when he did so. Or maybe that was just his shyness showing again.

Where was all the concern and worry that should be natural for heroes? They must've thought that U.A. wouldn't let anything happen to them during these exercises.

_Maybe I should've started with a safety lecture. Ergh...teaching is hard.  
_

The debris cleared and the monitor showed the results of Kodai's actions. Kodai, Honenuki, and Kaibara were all coughing hard from the dust. They were trapped under various amounts of debris. Bondo was still slumped against the wall, unconscious now.

_This is just like yesterday with that team with Bakugo Katsuki. No one appears to be in critical condition, thank goodness. I'm going to end this now before anyone gets seriously hurt._

"Everyone is incapacitated! This match ends in a draw!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

After some time, the two teams were situated in the observation room. All Might himself had personally gone to the ruined building and checked each student for any injuries. The worst injury of the lot was Honenuki's sprained ankle, but he insisted on staying for the after-match analysis. Bondo also quickly woke up and insisted on staying as well. Yui made sure to shrink the toy when everyone was out, which caused the building to collapse even more, making it unusable for the next match.

Yui could only look at the floor when All Might had looked over them. Her face was scrunched up and her fists clenched by her side. Her stomach gurgled and she held it in pain. An unfortunate aftereffect of overusing her Quirk. She ignored the stares her other classmates gave her. She vaguely heard the after battle analysis, but barely paid attention to it.

_Why did I do something that irrational…? _Her fists curled around themselves even tighter. She looked over at Bondo. Their gazes met and he quickly looked away.

"...anything from you, Young Kodai?" Yui blinked and looked up at All Might. She turned around and saw everyone else looking at her expectantly.

"... I shouldn't have enlarged that toy," she said softly. "I put everyone around me in danger. I didn't think of anything else and used it as a last resort."

"Not to worry, Young Kodai!" All Might said with his reassuring grin. "Like I said last match, everyone makes mistakes. As long as you realize that fact then you can learn from it. What you did is what a typical villain might do in these situations! When cornered, they might attempt to take both parties down with no care for their health. Be mindful of that! Though I will have to ask you to refrain from any big destructive actions from now on. I won't be able to guarantee your safety if something like this happens again."

The class nodded. All Might continued. "Now, the two teams have to go to the infirmary! No buts or excuses!"

Kaibara slung Honenuki over his shoulder limp-walked towards Recovery Girl's clinic. Yui quickly walked over to Bondo, who tried to avoid her gaze, but failed. She reached in her pouch and pulled out the small model Bondo was gushing over. He immediately turned his head when he noticed, wide-eyed.

"W-Wait, you're still giving this to me?" he stuttered. "W-Why?"

"I promised you, didn't I?"

"But I didn't even do well! I trapped you in my glue. So why?"

That was true. Why was she insistent on this? She initially offered it to him to boost his performance, but he ended up doing the opposite. She pressed on nonetheless. "Because...I just...feel like it?"

Those words felt weird coming out of her mouth. She didn't know why, but seeing his sad expression made her want to give it to him more.

He was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I still can't accept this."

For the second time, Yui was taken aback. _What?_

"I didn't earn it." Bondo looked at her directly this time. Well, as directly as one with empty eyeholes can get. "I said I would try my best for it, but I ended up making things worse. And I was knocked out of the fight early by Kaibara." He held his stomach and winced. "If I knew how to fight, then maybe I could have avoided this."

"I made things worse as well," Yui reminded him.

"But I pushed you to that situation," Bondo said. "I'm going to earn it next time, fair and square. Well, next time we partner up I guess."

None of what he said made any sense. Even so, she would respect his wishes all the same. "Alright then."

The two walked to the infirmary together, this time in much more comfortable silence.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

The class chattered softly while All Might tried to rework the monitors to another building. Izuku was shaking nervously. His turn was almost up and he couldn't help but think of how he will use his Quirk this time.

_I can't incapacitate myself. This is my chance to get rid of this probation sash. _He clutched the item in question. _I managed to avoid it last time. But what about here?_

He shook his head and slapped his cheeks. Overworking himself wouldn't help him here. He looked at Kendo and noticed she had a sort of faraway look in her eyes. He followed her gaze and saw her staring intently at Kamakiri. Her eyes were narrowed and she seemed deep in thought.

"Is everything alright, Kendo-san?" Kendo blinked and looked towards him.

"O-Oh yeah. Everything is fine. Are you already thinking up a plan, Midoriya-san?"

"W-Well sort of," Izuku said. He looked down at his hands. "I-I was thinking about how I can use my Quirk without hurting myself again."

"Oh yeah. That would be a problem." Kendo looked up in thought. "Is there no way for you to hold back your power so that it won't hurt you?"

"I'm sure there is a way. B-But I haven't figured it out yet. It's really hard to control it…"

"I'm sure," Kendo said, nodding. "I can't even imagine trying to practice with a Quirk that breaks you every time. My Quirk kind of just clicked with me, you know?"

"Yeah…" Izuku slumped down. "That's what everyone seems to be saying to me lately…"

Kendo winced. "Sorry."

"Yo." Their conversation was interrupted by Monoma, who was walking towards them with his hands in pockets. His face looked noticeably better, lacking any of the bruises he had before. He did look a bit tired. Probably from Recovery Girl's Quirk. "What did I miss? I passed by the others on the way back and they don't look so good."

"You missed a lot." Kendo looked back at the monitors. All Might was tangled in the wires and Tsuburaba and Rin were trying to help him out with little effect. "We're just waiting to go right now. How is Tokage-san doing?"

Monoma whistled when he saw the destroyed building in the monitors. "Damn, I wish I was there to see that. Tokage-san is doing fine. Recovery Girl used her Quirk on her for the minor scratches so she was acting even more high and loopy than before, which was pretty funny to watch. Then she fell asleep and I got bored so I figured I'd come back here. Looks like I came just in time."

"And Recovery Girl just let you go like that?" Izuku asked, his eyes narrowed.

"She just used her Quirk on me. It didn't even use much of my energy since I didn't have any serious injuries." Monoma started sweating a bit at Izuku's scrutinizing look. "Seriously, I'm fine. Don't look at me like that."

"Ahem!" All Might cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. The monitors showed a different building with the same structural format as the last one. The wires were back in place and neatly organized. How did that happen so quickly? "We're finally ready! Will the hero and villain team please make their way for the final match of the day!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Togaru looked at the fake bomb with open disinterest. There wasn't any point to it in his opinion. It was just an easier way for someone to win. A more cowardly way. So what if you touched the bomb. What then? The villain would still be there. Where there is a villain, there always needs to be a battle to win before anything can get done in the real world. This simulation was almost insulting to him. All the previous matches were a joke. Just people playing pretend instead of actually being heroes.

His hero costume consisted of a small black cloak with equally dark trousers and boots. The cloak, when opened, exposed his upper body in case he needed to use his chest to sprout some blades in case of an emergency.

His 'partner' had a very Chinese-styled hero costume. It consisted of a pair of light-colored knee-high boots with a dark vest with a cloud design across it. He wore a belt with pouches on the side with a visor that had a talisman attached to the front.

_Tch. That talisman covers up almost half of his face and his eyes. How will that help him in battle? These people aren't taking this seriously at all...  
_

"So, what I think we should do is-" Rin started to say before he noticed Togaru walking through the door. "H-Hey?! What are you doing?!"

"Preparing for my fight," Togaru responded, making his way through the door again.

"But we should come up with a plan first!" Togaru stopped again and breathed through his nose deeply. Why he felt the need to explain himself, he didn't know. Maybe giving him a simple explanation would get his 'partner' to shut up.

"Do you think you can face against the runt?" Rin gave him a confused look.

"Midoriya-san? I don't know. That guy's Quirk is weird. Why are you asking? What happens if Kendo-san comes up with him?"

"No, he'll face you alone." The tone of his voice was certain. Togaru grew a pair of blades out his arms and sharpened them together. "Cuz I'll be the one who will face against Kendo."

"But-"

"I'll face her," he said. "There's a reason why I placed the bomb on the top floor. Midoriya will waste his time searching the other floors like a dipshit, which will give me more time to fight. And she will face me, one way or the other. If you manage to take out Midoriya, then it's all the better. If not, then I'll deal with him myself."

"...There's no changing your mind, is there?"

"Glad you understand." Togaru walked out of the room. He had a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

_I will get my rematch, Kendo. And we'll see who's fighting spirit burns more brightly this time._

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Izuku didn't know how to describe what he was feeling right now. He was nervous but excited as well. He was getting another chance to redeem himself. To prove that he was still worthy of being at U.A.

Kendo looked equally as nervous, which was strange for her in the short time he knew her.

"Midoriya-san, I know you want to win this. You're really smart, so you must already have a plan," Kendo stated. "But even so, I have a huge favor to ask."

"W-What do you need?" Izuku asked. Her tone held a sense of trepidation in it. He didn't like where this was going.

"Well...I was wondering if I could face Kamakiri-kun alone," she said. Izuku stared at her.

"B-But wouldn't it be better to face him together?" Izuku said. Judging from Kamakiri's performance in the obstacle course and his confidence, Izuku can tell that he was a proficient fighter as well. "A-And how do you know he will come alone?"

"Because I'm in this match up. He'll definitely come after me." She enlarged her hands and smacked them together, startling him. "And...I want to test myself against him too."

"...You know him from before, right?" Izuku asked. He probably shouldn't pry, but after seeing Kendo's interactions with Kamakiri and now hearing her say that statement made his curiosity too much for him this time.

Kendo nodded. "Yeah. We know each other from long back in elementary school. Our families both own separate training centers: The Kendo Dojo and the Razor Gym."

Izuku gawked. "Did you just say theRazor Gym!? The exclusive training center that many top heroes frequent!? The one equipped with so many facilities on par with U.A and Shiketsu!? _That _Razor Gym?!"

The Razor Gym was a famous training center for top heroes. Just because heroes graduate from school and get their official license didn't mean that they stopped developing their Quirks or practice for any new threats.

Kendo laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I figured you might recognize the name. Though, I'll have you know that my dojo is just as good!"

"It is?" He hadn't ever heard of Kendo's dojo before. It made sense though. Kendo had to have learned her skills from somewhere and she did say she liked martial arts. at she owned one though He saw her skillful display in the obstacle course. Those techniques had to have come from somewhere. "What facilities do you have there?"

Kendo started sweating. "A-All sorts of stuff! B-But we're getting off-topic!" She cleared her throat, composed once more. "Our families quickly found each other and made a partnership of sorts. We sparred with each other all the time, but..." her hands were clenched at this point. "...I lost almost every single battle."

Midoriya took a step back. Kendo was getting a little emotional and he didn't know what to do. _Wait, she lost!? It would make sense if it was 50-50 since they both owned dojos. Just how strong is Kamakiri-san?_

"It's frustrating, losing most of the battles I had with him," at this point, Kendo's hands were clenched tightly at her sides. "He's just so much stronger than me and it only seems like he's getting farther away."

Izuku suddenly felt a wave of familiarity wash over him. His eyes were getting wider. Kendo continued.

"But despite all that, I still want to surpass him!" Kendo clenched her fist to her chest. "It's been a long time since we fought each other seriously and I want to show him how much stronger I've got. I will beat him this time!"

She looked down and saw Izuku's wide-eyed look. She blushed. "S-Sorry. I got a little too excited there. I don't know what came over me." She gave him a wobbly smile. "I'm probably being weird, huh?"

Izuku stared at her. Her fists were still trembling, though she was calming down. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips thin. Her teal eyes had a burning bonfire within them. All of this was something he was intimately familiar with himself. With another hot-headed person.

Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He suddenly gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. "Alright, Kendo-san. I'll help you out!"

Kendo's face lit up. "Really? Midoriya-san, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so much!"

Izuku just continued smiling. "Don't worry about it. I'll find a way to deal with Rin-san."

"The five minutes are over! Prepare to start the exercise!"

"I'll leave Kamakiri-san to you, but I-I'm still going to try to get the bomb," Izuku said.

Kendo nodded understandingly. "Okay then. I guess I'll just have to beat him as soon as possible, I guess."

With that, the duo walked into the building.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

All Might stared at the monitor intensely. He was focused exclusively on his successor. There was a sense of anticipation building up in his body and he couldn't help but get worried if Midoriya will get hurt using his Quirk again.

"Um...All Might-sensei?" Shiozaki spoke up behind him. "Shouldn't we start the analysis now?"

"T-That's right! Thank you, Young Shiozaki! Is there anyone who wants to start?" All Might said, tearing himself away from the monitor.

_I told myself I wouldn't neglect my other students because of Midoriya, but I'm doing it right now! I need to watch out for that!_

"I think the villain team has the advantage here," Shoda said. "Rin-san and Kamakiri-san have good offensive and defensive Quirks. They're more well rounded for any situation."

"No way." Awase shook his head. "They have good Quirks, but Midoriya just needs to blast them with one punch and they're fucking done, period. Kendo also has a good Quirk for fighting too. They totally have the advantage."

"But did you see how injured Midoriya-san was after he used his Quirk?" Shiozaki said. "If they dodge his attack, then he'll be out of the battle."

"Not to mention Kamakiri is unbelievably skilled. Did you see his performance in the obstacle course!?" Tsuburaba said. "With moves like those, he has to be a good fighter."

"Well, we're about to find out," Monoma said, pointing at the monitor. "Cuz Midoriya-san and Kendo-san just found him."

The entire class whipped their heads around to the monitor. Sure enough, Midoriya and Kendo were facing against a calm Kamakiri. They were just standing there. It seemed some words were being exchanged, though they couldn't hear it. Then, Midoriya ran past Kamakiri. Kamakiri tried to swipe at him, but Midoriya ducked and rolled and continued running. Kamakiri didn't run after him and turned back to Kendo. They both started walking towards one of the open doors.

"W-What?!"

"They had the perfect advantage against him! Why would they waste it?!"

"Why did Kamakiri just stand there and let Midoriya pass?"

Even All Might was shocked at the turn of events. _Just what are you planning, Young Midoriya?_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Itsuka's heart was pounding against her chest. Anticipation, fear, excitement, and confidence were just a part of what was whirling around in her mind right now. Her fists were sweaty and clenched.

On the opposite end of her was Kamakiri. The two of them were alone in a nearby open room so that they would have more space to fight. Kamakiri himself was also standing there, his expression blank. His hands were at his side, limp. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, both scrutinizing and sizing the other up.

"You've gotten stronger," Kamakiri suddenly said. Itsuka let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. It was a simple statement, but to her it was acknowledgment. Kamakiri never handed out praise easily. It was as rare as finding gold in your backyard.

"So have you," Itsuka said. It was the truth. Judging from the obstacle course alone, Itsuka could see just how comfortable Kamakiri was with his Quirk. He had no trouble with his Quirk before, but now he was able to make all sorts of maneuvers to give him an advantage in the obstacle course. Itsuka was sure that translated into his fighting skills as well. "It's been a long while since we last fought."

"Too long," Kamakiri said. He had a small smirk on his face. "You look like you want to say something. Why don't you just spit it out?"

"I'm not going to give up." It looked like Kamakiri didn't change much, personality-wise. Itsuka got into her fighting stance. Her fists were clenched tight, ready to grow at any moment's notice. "You better watch out. I'm about to dethrone you, Kamakiri-kun."

"Just saying that won't mean anything." Kamakiri grew a pair of blades out of his arms and assumed an offensive stance. Itsuka recognized it from all the spars they did, but somehow it seemed more firm this time. He suddenly rushed at her and she had to grow both of her hands to block a sudden strike.

_What the-!? He's this fast now?!_

"You'll have to show me with your actions instead!" Kamakiri yelled, raising both arms high. What followed was a flurry of slashes that came her way. She dodged and parried all of them with familiar grace and skill. She finally pushed her hands outward, making him jump backwards into a crouch.

Or that's what should've happened.

Instead, Kamakiri leaped on her outstretched palms and delivered an overhead strike on her head, followed by a kick to her gut. She flew and skidded across the floor, wheezing.

_W-What…?_

"You always use that move whenever you want to create distance between you and me. Don't think you were the only one who was watching closely. That move used to work, but not anymore," Kamakiri said. His knees were bent low, his blades crossed over his face.

Itsuka quickly got up. She bit her lip. "It's true that you've improved…"

Kamakiri crossed the distance between them quickly. He slashed with his blades but was stopped cold. His eyes went wide.

Itsuka stared at him fiercely, her hand clutching his blades tightly. Blood leaked from her hand and fell to the floor. "But I'm going to say it again. I'm not the same as I was before. And I'm not going to give up!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Izuku was sprinting up the stairs. He headed straight for the top floor. He had a good feeling the bomb was there.

_If Kamakiri-san wanted time to fight Kendo-san, then it would make sense to put the bomb the farthest away possible._

Izuku knew that Kendo would have also wanted more time to fight Kamakiri, but he wasn't that nice enough to give this whole match to her. He also had something to prove, and a probation sash to get rid of.

_Let's come up with a plan for now. Rin-san has a Quirk that allows him to cover his body in scales for defense and launch them for offense if I'm not mistaken. How am I going to counter that?_

Izuku was drawing blanks. On one hand, he didn't want to use the full power of All Might's Quirk in fear that he would seriously injure his classmate. But on the other hand, he would get destroyed by Rin-san's quirk. He didn't know all of his classmate's skills to see if his meager combat experience could hold up.

He slowly walked down the hallway towards the door at the end. He felt the doorknob and twisted it as silently as he could.

_Of course it's locked…how do I get in now? If I use One for All, my arm would get broken…_

Izuku remembered the events of the obstacle course. His eyes widened.

_...but if I only use my fingers, then it should probably be enough!_

Izuku positioned himself in front of the doorway. He put his thumb over his index finger and pulled back. The familiar red veins of energy flowed through his fingers, causing a gentle shockwave of wind to flow around him.

_Concentrate...egg in the microwave...don't let your thumb break!_

Izuku released his finger.

_KERWHOOSH!_

BANG!

"AHHHH!"

"OH MY GOD!"

The door flew off its hinges, slamming into the other side of the room. Izuku screamed as his finger flopped to the side. His eyes widened and he rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a volley of scales speeding out the door. He clutched his wrist, trying to bear with the pain.

_Now, what do I do? _Izuku risked a peek. He quickly jerked back when he was almost met with another face full of scales. _Rin-san isn't coming out, which means he's playing defensively. I have to be aggressive. But how? He'll blast me with scales as soon as I come out and I have to go up close to attack!"_

Izuku closed his eyes and remembered all the All Might videos he had ever seen. One, in particular, came to mind. All Might punched the air and the wind pressure alone made the projectiles that were heading towards him fly off course.

_...or maybe I don't have to be up close…_

Izuku readied his other hand. His finger started glowing. _I only have one shot at this or otherwise I'll be seriously disadvantaged. Here goes nothing!_

Izuku dived forward through the doorway. Just as he predicted, Rin launched his scales towards him. This time, Izuku was ready.

_KERWHOOSH!_

"Wha-?" Rin wasn't even allowed to finish as he and his scales were blasted by the concentrated wind pressure. He was sent to the opposite wall, kicking up dust and debris everywhere.

Izuku panted, his hands awkwardly on his knees. _I-I can't believe that worked! And my thumb didn't break! I wonder what changed this time…_ He shook his head and looked around. His eyes went wide. _W-wait...where's the bomb!?_

"You're probably wondering where the bomb is... hero?" Rin said. Izuku snapped his head towards the slowly clearing dust cloud. Rin stepped through the dust, his entire body covered in scales. The wall behind was partially damaged. A few bits of sunlight leaked through the holes. It looked like he covered himself with his scales just before he impacted the wall. Rin coughed a bit before continuing. "I wondered what I could do to stall you since I knew you would come eventually. But even I didn't expect you to come this fast. All Might never said we couldn't move the bomb _after _the time was up. Nor do we have to stay with it."

_No…_ Izuku took a step back, his eyes frantically looking left and right for a way to escape. _I only took account of what Kamakiri might do to prolong the fight. I completely forgot that Rin might have his own plan!_

"I took a risk that you might find the bomb first. But you didn't and that risk paid off." Rin got into a stance. "I've got you right where I want you!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Damn, this is really intense!"

"I don't know who to root for anymore! Everyone's so awesome right now!"

"It looks like the hero team is going to lose…"

All Might couldn't help but agree with that last statement. It wasn't looking good for the hero team. Midoriya was stuck in a corner with Rin and it looked like Kamakiri and Kendo were having a deathmatch now.

Seeing Midoriya's red fingers tremble made All Might want to call the match off immediately, but he refrained himself. _I wonder… was this what Nana felt whenever she saw me getting hurt?_

All Might shook his head and clenched his fists. _I need to believe in Young Midoriya! Just like how my mentor believed in me! Go show your spirit, Young Midoriya!_

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Itsuka enlarged her other fist and gave Kamakiri a full haymaker. Kamakiri's face caved in the force. When she pulled back, she saw that his nose was slightly deformed with blood leaking out of nostrils. She pulled her fist back, but Kamakiri did a low kick at her shins, which caused her to trip slightly and lose her grip on him. He followed up with slash towards her torse, but she parried it perfectly. Kamakiri quickly sidestepped and tried the same technique at her back, only to be met with her durable hands once more.

The two childhood friends engaged in a deadly dance, jumping and ducking over and around each other. Kamakiri sped around, making shallow cuts on her. Itsuka blocked most of them, but the blades made small, messy incisions on her skin. Her hands were completely stained red.

_My fists are too bulky! There were a lot smaller and quick back then. There's only one way I can get a hit on him now… _Itsuka stood still and stopped attacking. She made a faux defensive position. Kamakiri took advantage of this immediately and raced towards her. He slashed with his blades. Itsuka tried to step back but was too late.

"Ghk!" Itsuka felt the blade cut her deeply. She didn't let the pain bother and saw her opportunity. She clenched her fist and punched forward.

"GAH!" Spit flew out of Kamakiri's mouth. He flew across the room and started skidding across the floor. Kamakiri started coughing but managed to get up quickly. "You...really did get stronger. I don't remember your punches being that powerful before."

"Haven't you been listening?" Itsuka said. She was breathing deeply. Blood droplets dripped to the floor from her arms and torso. She shrunk her fist so she could save energy. "I...will beat you."

"Give it up...with that." Kamakiri coughed some more. He was panting, but not as much as her. Still, it looked like she did some real damage with that one attack. "Even I can see that you can't fight much longer."

"I can still...fight." She was saying that now, but in reality, she knew Kamakiri was right. The blood loss was making her head spin and her vision was getting blurry.

Kamakiri rushed at her again. She dodged his initial swipe but completely got blindsided by his leg. He made another low sweep and swept her off the ground. He tried to end her in one strike, but she enlarged them again in a shower of blood and swung at him blindly. He leaned out of the way and took a step back. Itsuka made her other fist even larger and sent the large punch his way, forcing him to retreat.

"Please stop this! You can't go any farther!" Kamakiri shouted. Itsuka blinked. Was that worry she heard in his voice? "You've already proved your strength! I don't want to hurt you anymore!"

"Are you doubting my resolve?" She smiled at him, despite the amount of pain she was in. "You were the one that went on about how a battle is meaningless without victory. Don't give me of all people that pity."

"...you've always had a strong spirit, but you've never taken it this far before. Why? What changed?"

Itsuka said nothing, getting into position. Kamakiri grunted in acceptance and felt his sides, wincing slightly. He also got into his position.

_The next strike will most likely determine the victor… _Itsuka shrunk her fists. She took a deep, labored breath. The two of them seemed to stay like that for what felt like an eternity.

Then Kamakiri rushed at her. Itsuka enlarged her hand the biggest she could go and blocked the blade. It cut her hand deeply, sticking there and effectively pinning him in place. She tried to enlarge her other hand, but Kamakiri _broke _his blade and ducked under the attack. With a feral scream and blood gushing out of his arm, he uppercutted Itsuka's chin, making her fly upwards. She impacted the ground with a loud _smack! _and groaned immediately. She started coughing loudly. She tried to get up but her limbs wouldn't move.

_No… _Tears came to her eyes. She forcibly shut them so they wouldn't fall. _All my hard work...all that training...only for it to end like this…_

"This sucks…" Itsuka breathed out. Though her vision was rapidly fading, she could make out Kamakiri's form standing right over her. "I'm sorry…Midoriya..."

Her vision turned to black.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru

"Kendo is out of the match!"

Togaru looked down at her prone form, his mind processing her last words. He opened his cloak and looked down, wincing when he saw a big, purple bruise take up the entirety of his side.

_If she had hit harder..._

He shook his head and made to tear chunks out of his cloak so that he can dress her wounds.

"That won't be necessary, Young Kamakiri!"

Togaru gave a slight jump, immediately hissing when his bruise acted up. He looked behind and saw All Might in all of his smiling glory. Kamakiri blinked at just how fast All Might appeared. He had just heard his voice over the intercom. And It seemed he knew already what Kamakiri was about to do.

"I was just about to take Young Kendo to the infirmary! She's too injured to be just lying here. You concentrate on your match! You still have one hero to take down!"

Togaru scoffed. "Midoriya won't be hard to beat. This won't take long at all."

Something within All Might's expression changed. But it only appeared for a split second, making Kamakiri think he was seeing things.

"We shall see! I will head out now so that I won't waste any more of your time!" And All Might sped away while carrying Kendo. Kamakiri was slightly off-balance from the wind pressure and quickly righted himself.

Just like everyone else, Kamakiri idolized All Might. But unlike everyone else he idolized him for one reason and one reason only: the amount of power All Might possessed all on his own without any support from anyone or anything whatsoever. Through every legendary battle, All Might won with only his own pure strength.

Kamakiri looked down at his cloak and his expression darkened. _Like I would let any of those support bastards mess with my abilities anyway…_

His thoughts were interrupted when the intercom system blared again.

"Holy shit, that's so metal! I-I mean, Rin has been captured by Midoriya!"

Kamakiri's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Rin winced when he stepped forward. That fact was not lost on Izuku.

_Was I able to harm him a bit with my attack?_

Rin charged at him slowly, leaving him no time to dwell on his thoughts. Rin aimed a punch straight for his face. Izuku ducked under and rolled away. He winced when his fingers flopped from side to side. He tried running out of the room.

"I won't let you escape that easily!" Rin's scales started sliding down towards his hands. They shot out akin to a shotgun spray, making Izuku jump away from the entrance.

_How am I supposed to counterattack? He has a ranged attack and can turn into his defense form. I can't attack him directly with One For All... _Immersed in his thoughts, He failed to recognize that Rin had thrown another volley. Izuku tried to duck again but was too late. A few scales pierced his skin, making him grunt in pain. He lifted his hand and pulled back a third finger. Rin saw this and immediately grew scales across his body. Izuku's eyes widened. _Wait...could it be that…_

Instead of charging One For All, Izuku lowered his arms and rushed to the exit once more. Rin just clicked his tongue.

"That won't work twice!" Izuku watched him closely as the scales gathered near his hand again and shot forward. Izuku rolled in the opposite direction abruptly, just barely missing them. Rin ran across the room, positioning himself in between the doorway and Izuku.

_I get it now! _Izuku stood up and looked at Rin. He was readying another volley of scales. _His weakness...he's completely defenseless when he's firing his scales! And it takes time to switch to his much slower defense form! I have to attack him_

"It'd be better if you surrender here, hero!" Rin said. "There's no way you can escape from this."

Izuku just gritted his teeth behind his lips. He only had a split second to act. _Wait for it…_

Just as he saw Rin release his scales, he snapped his arm up, fingers in position.

"Kendo is out of the match!"

_What?! _Izuku released his fingers prematurely. Rin's eyes widened when he realized what was happening, but it was too late. Both were too committed to their attacks to do anything else.

_KERWHOOSH!_

The scales were torn apart. Instead of sliding back last time, Rin flew through the wall. The room shook from the impact. Izuku breathed heavily, his hand numb from the force of the blast. He looked down at his hand. His four fingers were red with blisters everywhere.

_I lost focus and accidentally used two fingers instead of one… _Izuku's eyes widened and he ran towards where Rin fell at. He was lying on his back, unmoving. "Are you alright, Rin-san!?"

Rin groaned and tried to pick himself up. Izuku saw through the tears in his costume that he was successful in partially covering himself in scales to mitigate the impact, but was apparently not fast enough. He made it up one inch before falling back down with another groan. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. He then remembered that he was still in a match and got out the capture tape from his side pouches. He wrapped it around Rin's wrist.

"D-Damn it…" Rin said before coughing a bit. "Y-You got me good there."

"You fought well too," Izuku said. Rin shook his head.

"Not well enough. I guess I still have some work to do…" He looked upwards at Izuku's concerned face. "Don't worry about me. I'm...just gonna rest here a bit."

"Holy shit, that's so metal! I-I mean Rin has been captured by Midoriya!"

_Why is Tetsutetsu-san on the intercom? _Izuku ignored it for now and took a deep breath. Butterflies suddenly started floating around his stomach. Kendo had been defeated only a moment before, which meant that Kamakiri was coming after him now.

_Kamakiri-san is like a colder Kacchan. I don't know if I can handle that right now. Kendo might have weakened him, but still... _Izuku looked at his almost useless hand. _I have to find the bomb before he finds me!_

Izuku ran out of the room and his stomach formed a pit. It seemed fate did not want to make things easy today.

Kamakiri stood at the end of the hallway, his left arm already forming a blade. For just a moment, Kacchan replaced Kamakiri's visage. Primal fear filled Izuku and he did the only thing that came into his mind at that moment.

He ran.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

_So, the runt had beaten him… _Togaru stood at the end of the hallway. He created a blade from his left hand and stepped forward menacingly. He could see the fear fill up the weakling's eyes as he took a step back. _Guess my 'partner' was weaker than I thought._

He winced when his right arm throbbed. He had wrapped his cloak around it to stop the blood loss. Though he was getting dizzy, he was confident enough to beat the weakling easily and end this farce of a match.

The weakling suddenly ran, not surprising him. _Of course he would run. That's all he can do, after all._

Togaru gave chase. "Don't think running will help you, dipshit!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Izuku ran as fast as he could, minding his broken fingers. He risked a peek behind him. Kamakiri was gaining ground. He would catch up to him soon.

He ducked around a corner and into a random room. He hid behind a pillar, trying to catch his breath.

"_Useless Deku! You can't do anything right!"_

"_You become a hero? That's the funniest joke ever!"_

_GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

Izuku shook his head vehemently. He needed to get his brain in the game. This was no time to dwell on the past.

_There's no way I can find the bomb with Kamakiri-san tailing me. I'm sure Kendo-san fought her hardest against him, but now I have to face him. _Izuku peeked behind the pillar, his unbroken hand clutching his probation sash. _I can't let it all be for nothing!  
_

"Hiding won't help you," Izuku heard. Kamakiri had finally caught up to him. He entered the room, his blade trailing the ground and making a small screeching sound. "Stop delaying your loss. This battle is over."

_If I can take him out the same way as Rin-san, then I might have a chance. I have to face him head on!_

Izuku suddenly ran out of his hiding spot, startling Kamakiri. He pulled back his finger, intent on ending it once and for all. Kamakiri raced towards him, his left hand in front of his face in a slashing motion. Izuku was just about to charge One For All.

"AAAHHH!"

"SSMMAAAA-"

"Time is up! The bomb has exploded! The villain team wins!"

"Wha- oof!" He slammed right into Kamakiri, who had been equally as surprised at the news. They both fell to the ground, both rubbing their rapidly swelling heads. Izuku clenched his left hand, tears coming to his eyes.

_No...I lost!_

"Come back so we can give you your analysis!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Moments later, the three participants came back to the excited chatter. Izuku wasn't in the cheery mood all of them were in. He couldn't bring himself to meet All Might's eyes.

"Midoriya! The way you took down Rin-san was so cool! You just flicked your fingers and he went flying!" Tetsutetsu immediately got up in his face and mimicked his motions . Izuku took a step back, startled.

"I-It was n-nothing," Izuku said. He looked down. _I only beat him by accident anyways..._

"Your fight with Kendo was epic! The way you ripped your blade out just to win was so cool!" Tsuburaba gushed. Kamakiri looked at him with cold eyes.

"Can you say the same if you want to win a battle? If not, then shut up." Tsuburaba backed away slowly, his hands in the air. The atmosphere became tense.

"Settle down, everyone!" All Might said in his loud voice. "I'm pretty sure you all know the drill by now. Since Young Kendo is still resting at Recovery Girl's office, can you tell us what you think you should've done differently?"

Izuku finally looked at All Might. He still had his smiling face, but it was somehow softer than before. Almost as if All Might was telling him he had understood why the battle happened the way it did and that it was okay.

Izuku gulped then started. He could feel Kamakiri's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. "We...should have double-teamed Kamakiri-san when we first had the chance to. Then we could've gone after Rin-san and maybe win the match."

That's what he would've done if Kendo hadn't told him her backstory. He didn't blame Kendo at all for wanting to fight Kamakiri, but the loss still stung.

"I see! And does the villain team have to say anything?"

Rin was about to open his mouth but was interrupted by Kamakiri.

"No. Can I go to the infirmary now?" All Might coughed a bit.

"Y-Yes. All of you, get patched up at Recovery Girl! We'll meet you all back in the classroom!"

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Togaru was currently walking alongside Midoriya, who seemed to be fidgeting awkwardly. His mind was filled with images from the match he had with Kendo. He was analyzing her fighting style and how she had exactly improved. Then her last words snuck into the forefront of his thoughts.

"_I'm sorry...Midoriya…"_

_Why apologize to him?_

He snuck a glance at the runt. Today's match only confused him even more. He had initially thought that the determination that the runt showed during the obstacle course was a fluke. Just a lucky, freak accident. And his eyes had always shown that scared light of a weakling. A person who couldn't do anything.

Now though…

_It happened again…_ Togaru turned to Midoriya. _Back at the obstacle course...that was no fluke..._

The fighting spirit that burned within his eyes had appeared during their fight. The willingness to sacrifice anything to win.

But was it truly to win or was it something else?

Either way, it was gone now and he was back to his pathetic trembling form. That didn't make sense to Togaru. You either had the fighting spirit or you didn't. There was no in-between or both.

_Could it be that he's just acting that way to lower everyone's guard?_

That was unlikely. Or Midoriya was just too good at keeping up that persona.

"K-Kamakiri-san…" His head snapped to the runt next to him. Midoriya was fidgeting even more, but he was looking at him directly. The fearful light was there, but something else was flickering underneath. Kamakiri couldn't decipher it. "How...how did Kendo-san do against you?"

Togaru grunted. "She fought better than you."

Midoriya winced at that. "I know that…" he whispered. He turned back to him. "But how-"

"Shut up."

Midoriya shut his mouth for the rest of the trip.

The arrived at Recovery Girl's office. It seemed that most of their classmates had already left, but Kamakiri didn't care about that. He was here to only see one specific person.

"Kamakiri-kun! Midoriya-san! You're here! That must mean the match has ended!" Kendo sat up from her bedside, wincing. "Who won?"

"More students!? Just what are you all doing to yourselves!?" Recovery Girl came out of the opposite door. She turned to Kendo. "And you. Lay down! Who said you could get up!?"

Kendo laid down obediently. Recovery Girl scanned the two of them for injuries, though it was pretty obvious in the first place. She looked at Togaru. "You're the one who's injured the most here. You did well stopping the blood flow with your cloak. Come with me, I'll fix you up in a jiffy. And then I'll deal with you, _Midoriya-san." _

Midoriya winced. Togaru looked at Kendo.

"I'll be fine. I'll talk to you once Recovery Girl is done with you," Kendo said, recognizing the look on his face. "Now, go on."

Togaru nodded and followed Recovery Girl into the room.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

"Kamakiri-kun won, right?" Kendo said. "I can kinda tell with your sad face."

"W-Was it that obvious?" Izuku knew he was sulking a bit, but he thought he had schooled it pretty well.

"Yeah. You're very expressive, you know." Izuku blushed a little from that. Kendo looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't beat him…"

"Kendo-san?"

"I cost you the whole match. We could've won if I hadn't been selfish…" She bowed down to him. "Please accept my apology!"

"N-No need t-to apologize, Kendo-san!" Izuku said, waving his arms around robotically. "W-We wouldn't have n-necessarily w-won, but…"

"Breathe," Kendo reminded him. Izuku stopped and nodded, breathing in nature's life-giving air. She giggled some more, making him go red again.

"Thanks. I think I needed that," Kendo said.

"A-Anytime," Izuku mumbled. The two sat there in relatively comfortable silence. Until Kendo suddenly slammed her fist against the wall, making Izuku squeak.

"It's just so frustrating." Her fist was shaking. Izuku took a cautious step towards her. "I thought I could finally beat him, but he always finds a way to get farther away from me. Does that make any sense?"

Izuku smiled at her sadly. _More than you know…_

"In any case, this just means we have to work harder." Kendo put her fist towards him. "So, let's grow from this and become stronger than ever before, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Izuku bumped her fist with his unbroken one enthusiastically. _That's one thing that won't change. I still have a long way to go before I can control All Might's Quirk._

"Rest on the bed over there, Kamakiri-san. Midoriya-san, you're up." Recovery Girl came from the door with a mostly fixed up Kamakiri in tow. Though, it looked like the bump on his head grew even bigger. "Let's hope you have a better excuse than this boor." She slammed her cane against the ground, making Izuku sweat a bit before he entered her office.

~Class~1-B's~Dekiru~

Togaru stood by Kendo's bed. Kendo smiled up at him weakly.

"Recovery Girl told you to lie down for a bit."

"Don't need it. She already patched me up. That's good enough for me." Kendo giggled at that.

"Always putting up the tough-guy routine. You don't have to do that."

"You've gotten stronger," Togaru said. Kendo tilted her head at the abrupt change in topics.

"You already said that many times during our fight."

"Yeah, but…" Togaru rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to tell you after the battle. When our thoughts were more clear."

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "You haven't changed a bit. You're still as strong as ever."

"Maybe." Not strong enough in his opinion. But he would get there. "You've changed a lot though. You're a lot less…"

"Tomboyish?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… maybe." Kendo grinned up at him. "We would've won if Izuku and I tag-teamed you. I purposefully asked him to leave me so we could have our match, you know."

At that moment, Kendo's last words came to his mind again.

"_I'm sorry...Midoriya…"_

"It would've ended the same way," Togaru said. Kendo shook her head.

"Midoriya-san is a lot stronger than you think he is. I think he'll surprise you." Togaru grunted. He turned around and started walking away. "Where are you going?"

"Back to class. Recovery Girl isn't going to keep me here. You just stay here and rest up." Before he could take another step, he felt his arm get grabbed. He turned around and saw Kendo with her hair shadowing her face. "What is it?"

"Please answer me honestly here. It's been bothering me ever since I woke up." She looked up at him. At that moment, Togaru saw her fighting spirit burn in her eyes. "You...you weren't holding back during our fight...were you?"

Togaru's eyes widened before he looked away. A myriad of emotions went through him, but he pushed them all away. He pulled his hand free from her grip and went to the exit.

"No," he lied. "I wasn't holding back at all."

* * *

**I'm back again with another update and this one was a doozy. Over a 11k words! This is the biggest chapter yet! Though with big chapters comes the danger of having even more mistakes in one place so if you see some then let me know. Me and RD1042 will be looking over it but that tiny extra help would still be appreciated. There's also a lot to talk about so I'm just going to dive right into it.**

**What did you think about the fight between Kendo and Kamakiri. I know there isn't much backstory to them yet and it will be revealed later but I still tried to go for the epic/emotional route since I thought it fit for them. I wanted to know if it was at least satisfying to read. I don't know if I made the fight too epic (apparently that's a thing) that it wouldn't fit here. Let me know on the Izuku v. Rin fight too. And speaking of backstory...**

**As you can see, I'm changing up the lore a bit by adding new locations: the Kendo Dojo and the Razor Gym. These will become semi-important locations later on so I hope you'll be excited for them. Now on to other things.**

**I'm seeing a fair amount of reviews saying that Manga was a throwaway character. That's half true and half not true. I did switch him up because he was admittedly going to be a minor character in Class 1-B. Everyone in Class 1-B is going to have their touching scene, don't get me wrong, but I didn't want there to be 21 students in one class. It just wouldn't fit with the story so one person had to get shafted. But I promised that this is a story about class 1-B so we will get Manga later. Even if he is a member of class 1-A here, he is still 1-B spiritually and will have interactions with Izuku later on. Now on to what I want to address the most.**

**My first bad review from Major Session, even though they're probably gone now and will never come back. I'll admit, even though I did encourage bad reviews, this came as a shock to me. But I was ultimately happy that someone was going to tell it to me how it is and I wanted to address it for future people looking through the reviews and to encourage people to speak out more so I can learn more from other's thoughts and maybe even get some new ideas. I also wanted to explain my reasoning for why I started the story the way it did so let's get into it. This review had a ton of good ideas on how to start off the story with different story beats, but I ultimately wanted to start it off the same way because I wanted there to be a clear point when the story starts to divert from the original storyline and become its own thing. Kind of like it starts the same with one difference, but that one difference snowballs into so many different branches that you get a completely different situation at the same timeline from the original storyline. I hope I made a bit of sense with that. As for the characters, their backstories haven't been revealed yet, but I promise they will be different from the Izuku/Ochako/Tenya trio. They will teach different things to Izuku and he'll turn out different because of that. How different? Well, you'll just have to read to find out.**

**Thank you all again so much for the support. I say this again and again, but it has been crazy still and I can't believe I made it to this point in just six chapters. I'll see you again, whenever that is.**


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